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ATURBANA-CHAMPAIGN 

ILL.  HIST.  SURVEY 


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THE 

DUTCH  COMMUNITIES 

OF  CHICAGO 


THE 

DUTCH  COMMUNITIES 
OF  CHICAGO 


By 

Amry  Vandenbosch,  Ph.  D. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Political  Science, 
University  of  Kentucky 


Printed  by  Carlstrand-Rook  Company /or 
THE  KNICKERBOCKER  SOCIETY  OF  CHICAGO 

1927 


/  V  w  )  ^'  (  ^•'  / 


X  ROF.  Amry  Vandenbosch  of  the  University  of  Ken- 
tucky, while  a  student  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  and 
a  member  of  the  local  Knickerbocker  Society,  wrote,  as  a 
thesis,  a  paper  on  the  ''Dutch  Communities  of  Chicago/' 
The  paper  has  been  read  by  many  of  the  Society  and  others 
with  benefit  and  interest.  In  order  that  the  results  of  his 
study  should  not  be  lost  to  posterity  and  to  give  it  the  pub- 
licity it  deserves,  the  Knickerbocker  Society  is  publishing 
this  paper.  The  story  is  not  intended  to  be  exhaustive  as 
the  author  w^ell  notes  in  his  preface.  In  the  text  reference 
is  made  to  a  few  notes  written  by  the  Committee  on  Pub- 
lication, which  notes  can  be  found  on  page  loi.  The  book 
should  contain  biographies  and  portraits  of  the  Dutch 
pioneers,  possibly  pictures  of  places  of  interest.  It  is  hoped 
that  this  publication  may  had  to  further  efforts  in  that 
direction. 

Committee  ON  Publication, 
The  Knickerbocker  Society  of  Chicago. 

December,  1927. 


CONTENTS- 

Preface    vii 

I.  Introduction  1 

II.  Immigration  and  General  History  of  the 
Communities   5 

III.  Churches  and  Religious  Life 18 

IV.  Schools  and  Education 39 

V.  Politics  and  Civic  Life 51 

VI.  Journalism    61 

VII.  Societies  and  Organizations  65 

VIII.  Occupational  Selection   75 

IX.  Social  and  Family  Life 78 

X.  The  Future  of  the  Communities 93 

Notes 101 

Members,  Knickerbocker  Society  of 

Chicago 102-3 


PREFACE 

During  a  stay  o£  several  years  in  Chicago  I  be- 
came very  much  interested  in  the  Dutch  commun- 
ities dealt  with  in  this  study.  I  was  born  and 
raised  near  the  heart  of  the  Old  Dutch  Settlement 
in  Western  Michigan  and  had  spent  several  years 
in  Grand  Rapids,  so  I  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  life  of  the  Dutch  people  in  Michigan,  but 
conditions  in  the  Dutch  communities  in  Chicago, 
buried  in  the  heart  of  a  great  metropolitan  area, 
were  so  vastly  different  from  conditions  in  the 
communities  I  had  previously  been  acquainted 
with  that  my  interest  was  at  once  aroused.  This 
monograph  is  the  result  of  that  interest,  though 
by  no  means  does  it  represent  an  adequate  study 
of  this  interesting  subject.  The  only  justification 
for  its  publication  is  the  complete  absence  of  any 
other  study  of  its  kind.  It  may  also  serve  as  a 
starting  point  for  a  more  thorough  study,  which 
I  hope  will  some  day  be  undertaken  by  some  per- 
son better  qualified  for  this  kind  of  a  task.  The 
monograph  was  written  in  the  spring  of  1924,  and 
first  appeared  in  serial  form  in  On^e  Toekomst  in 
the  fall  of  1925. 

A.  Vandenbosch. 

Iowa  State  College^  April,  ig26. 


Vll 


I.  INTRODUCTION 

One  of  the  most  interesting  sociological  groups 
in  Chicago  is  that  of  the  Dutch.  The  1920  census 
shows  that  of  the  population  of  the  state  of 
Illinois  there  were  14,344  persons  born  in  the 
Netherlands  and  of  this  number  11,255  were  resi- 
dents of  Cook  county.  Previous  census  reports 
give  figures  showing  those  also  born  in  this  coun- 
try but  of  foreign  born  parents.  According  to  the 
last  five  federal  census  reports  the  number  of 
Hollanders  in  Chicago,  foreign  born  and  of  for- 
eign born  parents,  was  as  follows:  1870 — 1,640; 
1880—2,045;  1890—5,420;  1900—18,555;  1910 
— 20,456;  and  for  1920  similar  figures  have  been 
computed  to  be  22,163.^  The  annexation  of  Rose- 
land  during  the  decade  1890-1900  accounts  for 
the  unusually  large  increase  in  this  period. 


1.  Industrial  Department,  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  in 
Chicago  Commerce,  August  18,  1923. 

[1] 


In  1910  the  Dutch  constituted  1.2  per  cent  of 
the  total  foreign  born  in  Chicago  and  only  0.82 
percent  in  1920  indicating  that  they  form  a  minor 
racial  group.  However,  from  a  sociological  point 
of  view  the  Dutch  are  more  important  than  the 
foregoing  figures  would  seem  to  indicate,  because 
they  are  still  concentrated  in  a  few  localities. 
That  the  Dutch  in  spite  of  their  relatively  small 
numbers  continue  to  live  in  these  communities  to 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  is  in  large  part 
due  to  their  great  attachment  to  the  church,  as 
well  as  to  their  strong  race  consciousness.  Just 
how  great  a  percentage  of  the  Dutch  people  live 
in  the  Dutch  communities  can  be  gathered  from 
the  fact  that  statistics,  compiled  from  the  church 
directories,  show  some  14,000  people  affiliated 
with  the  different  Holland- American  churches  in 
Chicago.  For  Cook  county  the  number  is  over 
17,000. 

Of  the  8,843  foreign  born  Dutch  in  Chicago  in 
1920,  3,084  were  found  in  the  ninth  ward  (old 
ward  system),  1,597  in  the  thirty-second  ward, 
524  in  the  tenth  ward,  370  in  the  thirty-first  ward, 
348  in  the  twenty-ninth  ward,  331  in  the  thirty- 
third  ward,  252  in  the  thirty-fifth  ward,  and  242 
in  the  eleventh  ward.  The  rest  are  scattered  over 
the  remaining  wards. 

None  of  the  three  distinct  Dutch  communities 
in  Chicago  falls  wholly  within  the  bounds  of  a 
single  ward,  but  figures  compiled  from  the  church 

[2] 


directories  give  a  fair  estimate  of  the  number  of 
people  living  in  each  of  these  communities.  There 
are  slightly  over  7,000  persons  belonging  to  the 
Dutch  churches  of  Roseland.  (In  members  are 
included  both  baptized  and  communicant.)  Add- 
ing twenty-five  per  cent  to  this  number  to  cover 
those  who  do  not  belong  to  any  church  and  those 
who  belong  to  other  churches  the  result  is  some- 
thing like  8,750  Dutch  people  in  the  Roseland 
community.  By  the  same  method  of  calculation 
the  number  of  people  in  the  Englewood  commun- 
ity must  be  about  3,500  and  in  the  West  Side 
community,  4,200.  In  all  the  figures  given  on  the 
population  of  the  dififerent  communities,  persons 
of  the  second,  third,  and  even  fourth  generations 
are  included  in  the  term  Dutch  people. 

South  of  Chicago  there  are  two  other  small 
colonies.  About  ten  miles  southeast  of  Roseland 
is  the  original  Dutch  settlement  in  the  vicinity  of 
Chicago,  that  is  South  Holland,  having  a  church 
population  of  2,000.  About  five  miles  south  of 
Hammond  on  the  state  line,  there  is  another  small 
colony  of  truck  farmers  with  a  church  population 
of  about  1,800. 

The  Dutch  community  in  Roseland  is  not  co- 
extensive with  the  district  generally  known  by 
that  name.  The  boundaries  of  Roseland  are  99th 
street  on  the  north,  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
on  the  east,  115th  street  on  the  south,  and  the 
Chicago  and  Eastern   Illinois   Railroad  on  the 

[3] 


west.  The  boundaries  of  the  Dutch  community 
are  Michigan  avenue,  113th  street,  Halsted 
street,  and  103rd  street.  -The  region  between  the 
Chicago  and  Eastern  IlHnois  Railroad  and  Hal- 
sted street  is  open  territory  for  the  most  part  and 
is  devoted  to  truck  farming.  So  also  the  truck 
farming  territory  south  and  east  of  the  city, 
known  as  Riverdale,  is  settled  mostly  by  the 
Dutch.  And  within  the  last  few  years  many 
Dutch  families,  looking  for  a  better  residential 
district,  have  moved  into  the  district  known  as 
Sheldon  Heights.  The  boundaries  of  this  new 
residential  district  are  Stewart  avenue,  117th, 
Halsted,  and  111th  streets. 

The  Englewood  community  is  composed  of  two 
slightly  separated  communities.    The  largest  one 
is  the  district  included  between  Halsted,  Loomis, 
75th,  and  66th  streets.     The  smaller  community 
is  found  a  little  farther  north  and  is  bounded  by 
60th,  63rd,  May,  and  Peoria  streets.    The  larger 
one  to  the  south  is  the  settlement  of  the  greatest 
concentration  of  Dutch  in  the  city.     There  are 
blocks  almost  exclusively  inhabited  by  the  Dutcl 
such  as  the  ten  blocks  between  71st,  73rd,  Greer 
and  May  streets  where  there  are  some  170  Dutcl 
families. 

On  the  west  side  the  district  of  greatest  con- 
centration is  that  included  between  13th,  15th, 
Loomis,  and  Lincoln  streets.  Within  these  dozen 
blocks  there  are  some  330  Dutch  families  with  a 

[4] 


total  population  of  about  1,700.  This  community 
is  in  almost  every  respect  the  most  interesting 
of  them  all.  There  are  2,400  more  Dutch  people 
scattered  over  a  belt  from  Van  Buren  street  to 
18th  street  and  extending  west  into  Cicero  and 
Oak  Park.  Besides  the  above  mentioned  com- 
munities there  are  several  very  small  colonies  of 
truck  farmers  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  at  Sum- 
mit, Oak  Lawn,  Evergreen  Park,  and  Mt.  Green- 
wood. 

II.    IMMIGRATION  AND  GENERAL 
HISTORY  OF  THE  COMMUNITIES 

1  HE  general  revolutionary  movement  in  Europe 
in  the  late  forties  did  not  result  in  anything  like 
a  decisive  or  even  an  open  conflict  in  the  Nether- 
lands, but  it  did  produce  far  reaching  results. 
With  the  restoration  in  1814,  the  Netherlands 
settled  down  to  a  period  of  extreme  reaction 
under  the  rule  of  the  House  of  Orange,  now  raised 
to  the  ranks  of  the  monarchs.  The  reaction  w^as 
not  only  political,  but  it  also  extended  to  the 
ihurch.  Church  government  was  placed  under 
royal  control  and  the  property  of  the  church 
transferred  to  the  state.  The  state  appointed  and 
salaried  the  clergy  and  controlled  the  education  of 
the  clergy.  Theological  training  at  state  univer- 
sities under  theological  professors  declared  state 
officers  was  compulsory. 

[5] 


Nor  did  the  religious  reaction  stop  here.  Re- 
Hgious  freedom,  which  had  been  the  enHghtened 
poHcy  of  Holland  for  centuries,  almost  completely 
disappeared.  Against  the  dissenters  from  the 
state  church  several  articles  of  the  penal  code  of 
the  Code  Napoleon,  which  had  been  in  force  dur- 
ing the  French  occupation,  were  revived.  All 
association  of  more  than  twenty  persons,  without 
the  consent  of  the  government,  whether  for  reli- 
gious, political  or  other  purposes,  was  strictly  pro- 
hibited. Associations  formed  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  government  were  at  once  dissolved  and 
the  leaders  punished  with  heavy  fines.  Not  only 
that,  but  the  person  granting  or  consenting  to 
the  use  of  his  house  for  such  meetings  was  also 
fined. 

But  a  greater  cause  of  religious  discontent  than 
the  change  of  church  control  from  spiritual  and 
democratic  control  to  political  and  aristocratic 
domination,  was  the  change  in  the  spiritual  life 
and  theology  of  the  church.  The  church  in  the 
Netherlands,  as  the  church  in  other  European 
countries  at  the  time,  came  under  the  influence 
of  rationalism  and  dead  orthodoxy. 

Against  these  conditions  a  protest  movement 
soon  developed.  At  this  time  there  was  a  revival 
of  Calvinism  in  Geneva  and  certain  students  in 
the  universities  of  the  Netherlands  came  under 
its  influence,  and  thus  for  a  second  time  in  its  his- 
tory, the  Netherlands  came  under  the  strong  re- 

[6] 


ligious  influence  of  Geneva.  At  the  University 
of  Leiden  a  small  club  was  formed  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Hendrik  Peter  Scholte.  Another  leading 
member  of  the  club  was  Albertus  van  Raalte. 
These  men  later  became  leaders  of  the  secession 
from  the  state  church,  and  each  after  several 
years  became  the  leader  of  a  party  of  emigrants 
to  the  United  States. 

The  spiritual  revival  gained  moment,  small 
congregations  were  formed,  and  in  1834  the 
formal  secession  occurred.  However,  this  did  not 
take  place  without  continued  and  bitter  persecu- 
tions. The  leaders  of  the  movement  were  excom- 
municated from  the  church  and  the  separatists 
meetings  were  dispersed.  Meetings  were  held  in 
private  houses  and  in  barns.  The  people  were 
fined  and  imprisoned.  As  a  last  resort  the  gov- 
ernment quartered  troops  in  the  homes  of  the 
seceders  to  intimidate  them.  But  the  movement 
only  took  on  added  impetus,  and  in  the  end  the 
government  was  compelled  to  give  its  recognition 
to  the  secession  by  royal  decree  in  1839. 

However  petty  persecutions  continued.  'Jht 
people  were  also  dissatisfied  with  the  non-religious 
character  of  the  education  given  in  the  state 
schools.  They  wished  to  establish  their  own 
Christian  schools,  but  the  government  would  not 
give  its  consent  to  this.  Thus  another  cause  of 
religious  and  political  discontent  was  added  to  a 

[7] 


people  that  were  already  sorely  tried.  They  began 
to  think  of  emigrating. 

Added  to  the  ecclesiastical  and  political  reasons 
for  emigrating  was  the  economic.  The  war  with 
Belgium  had  created  an  enormous  national  debt ; 
commerce  and  industry  were  almost  stagnant; 
wages  were  low ;  severe  crop  failures  occurred  in 
1843;  and  many  cattle  were  lost  through  pest. 
The  Dutch  government  was  expending  upon  the 
poor  $8,000,000  annually. 

Most  of  the  historians  and  writers  on  the  Dutch 
immigration  of  1847-8  have  stressed  the  religious 
causes  of  the  migration.  This  is  the  view  of  Ver- 
steeg,^  an  early  historian  of  the  Movement,  and 
of  Miss  Pieters  in  a  recent  Columbia  University 
doctoral  dissertation.^  Prof.  Barnouw,  of  Colum- 
bia University  (holder  of  the  Queen  Wilhelmina 
professorship  of  Dutch  History,  Literature,  and 
Art)  in  a  review  of  Miss  Pieters'  book,  takes  the 
position  that  the  desire  for  religious  freedom  was 
not  as  powerful  a  motive  for  emigrating  as  was 
the  economic  depression  of  the  time.^ 


1.  De  Pelgrhn  Vaders  van  het  Westen,  Grand  Rapids,  1886. 

2.  A  Dutch  Settlement  in  Michigan,  published  by  Eerdmans- 
Sevensma  Co.,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  1923. 

3.  Holland  and  Her  Colonies,  June  1923.  Besides  the  studies 
already  mentioned  there  are :  H.  Beets,  De  Chr.  Geref.  Kerk  in 
Noord  Amerika  (1918),  and  The  Christian  Reformed  Church 
(1923)  ;  Dosker,  Levensschets  van  Rev.  A.  C.  Van  Raalte,  D.D. 
(1893)  ;  Vanderzee,  The  Hollanders  of  low^a.  Most  of  these  writers 
take  the  view  that  the  main  reason  for  migrating  was  religious 
discontent.  However,  Dr.  Beets  in  his  second  book,  The  Christian 
Reformed  Church,  states  that  the  hard  times  was  a  more  prominent 
and  dominant  cause  than  the  religious. 

[8] 


*The  settlers  were  seceders  from  the  Dutch  Reformed 
church  in  the  Netherlands.  They  claimed,  in  fact,  to  con- 
stitute that  church  in  its  pure,  original  state,  whereas  the 
church  from  which  they  seceded  was,  in  their  eyes,  an 
unwarrantable  innovation.  The  author  seems  to  attach 
greater  weight  to  their  longing  for  religious  freedom  as 
the  motive  for  emigrating  than  to  the  economic  depression 
of  those  days,  which  caused  poverty  and  discontent  all 
over  Europe,  and  brought  unrest  and  revolution  in  its 
wake.  But  the  religious  question  alone  would  hardly  have 
driven  them  off  the  country,  whereas  want  and  starvation 
were,  in  themselves,  sufficient  inducements  to  seek  a  more 
promising  existence  in  the  New  World.  Of  the  two  com- 
bined motives,  the  economic  one  was  doubtless  the  more 
powerful,  but  the  success  of  the  settlement  is,  indeed, 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  these  people  were  sustained 
and  held  together  in  the  first  years  of  hardship,  by  their 
common  belief  and  religious  fervor." 

Prof.  Henry  Lucas  of  the  University  of  Wash- 
ington, who  has  made  an  intensive  study  of  the 
problem,  states  the  causes  of  the  migration  to 
have  been  due  to :  fiirst,  the  ecclesiastical  discon- 
tent; secondly,  the  inability  to  educate  their  chil- 
dren in  their  ow^n  Christian  schools;  thirdly,  the 
general  unfavorable  economic  conditions;  and 
fourthly,  successive  failures  of  the  potato  crop.^ 

The  leaders  of  the  seceding  groups  proposed 
migrating  to  some  place  where  there  would  be 
greater  religious  freedom  and  where  there  would 
be  better  material  conditions.  Due  to  their  desire 
to  keep  their  old  allegiance,  Java  was  the  first 


1.  "The  Beginnings  of  Dutch  Immigration  to  Western  Michi- 
gan," Michigan  Historical  Magazine,  Vol.  6,  No.  4.  Prof.  Lucas 
is  preparing  for  publication  a  study  of  the  Hollanders  in  the 
United  States. 

[9] 


choice.  The  government  did  not  help  the  project, 
nor  did  it  guarantee  a  greater  reHgious  freedom 
than  in  the  home  territory.  South  Africa  was 
talked  of,  but  soon  abandoned.  The  United  States 
was  finally  decided  upon. 

Associations  for  the  purposes  of  financing  and 
directing  the  emigration  were  formed  and  an  em- 
igration bureau  established.  Catholics  and  unbe- 
lievers were  not  accepted  as  members  of  these 
associations.  The  emigration  proceeded  largely 
in  congregational  groups.  The  Protestants  mi- 
grated in  two  separate  groups.  One  group  under 
the  leadership  of  Dr.  Scholte  settled  at  Pella, 
Iowa,  in  1847.  This  became  the  center  of  a  flour- 
ishing Dutch  colony,  and  from  it  there  migrated 
new  groups  to  establish  the  Dutch  colony  in  north- 
western Iowa  in  the  late  seventies  and  eighties. 
Smaller  Dutch  settlements  have  since  sprung  up 
in  all  of  the  western  states. 

Dr.  A.  C.  Van  Raalte,  another  of  the  leaderg^ 
of  the  secession,  led  a  colony  in  the  sanpie'-Tgar  to 
make  a  settlement  on  the  eastern  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan,  the  present^^ghf  of  Holland,  Michigan. 
This  was  to  become  the  largest  of  all  the  Dutch 
settlements  of  the  later  immigration  in  the  United 
States.  The  1920  census  gives  33,033  as  the  num- 
ber of  native  or  foreign  born  Hollanders  in  Mich- 
igan. In  Grand  Rapids  alone  there  are  over  50,000 
people  of  Dutch  stock.   So  also  in  Muskegon  and 

[10] 


Kalamazoo  the  Dutch  form  the  largest  single 
element  in  the  population. 

Besides  these  two  Protestant  colonies,  there 
was  also  a  Catholic  emigration  movement,  leading 
to  a  settlement  in  the  Fox  River  Valley  in  Wis- 
consin, between  Lake  Winnebago  and  Green  Bay. 
The  leader  of  this  movement  and  the  father  of 
this  settlement  was  Father  Theodore  van  der 
Broek,  a  Dutch  Dominican,  who  had  spent  seven- 
teen years  in  missionary  work  among  the  Indians 
of  the  Middle  West.  Returning  to  the  Nether- 
lands he  organized  a  number  of  Catholic  Hol- 
landers for  the  purpose  of  migrating  to  the 
United  States.  In  March,  1848,  he  set  out  with 
three  shiploads  of  people.  These  people  became 
the  nucleus  of  the  Fox  River  settlement  which  is 
still  today  the  center  of  Dutch  Catholic  coloniza- 
tion in  the  United  States. 

Aside  from  these  larger  organized  groups  of 
Dutch  immigrants  of  those  years,  there  came 
many  smaller  groups  and  often  single  families,  to 
settle  wherever  the  circumstances  of  the  moment 
might  dictate.  Thus  as  early  as  1845  several 
families  had  settled  in  Vandalia,  Illinois,  and  in 
Milwaukee,  Wisconsin.  In  a  similar  manner  sev- 
eral Dutch  families  made  a  settlement  which  was 
then  about  25  miles  south  of  Chicago.  The  fam- 
ilies settling  there  in  that  year  were  those  of  John 
Kallowingeo,  Henry  De  Jong,  R.  Van  Vuuren, 
Gouwen  and  Benslip.    The  settlement  was  named 

[11] 


South  Holland,  after  the  province  from  which 
the  settlers  came  in  the  Netherlands. 

In  the  spring  of  1849  several  families  in  the 
province  of  North  Holland  banded  together  to 
migrate  to  the  United  States.  This  group  of 
families  were  to  form  the  first  Dutch  settlement 
of  what  is  now  Chicago,  but  which  was  then  about 
12  miles  from  the  city.  The  following  with  their 
families  formed  the  body  of  the  colonists :  Jacob 
De  Jonge,  Peter  De  Jonge,  Cornelius  Kuyper,  Jan 
Jonker,  Johannes  Ambuul,  John  Bras,  Peter  Da- 
lenberg,  Jan  Ton,  Klaas  Dalenberg,  Harke  Eeni- 
genberg,  Leendert  van  der  Sijde,  Peter  Oudendyk, 
Cornelius  Dalenberg,  Cornelius  Hoogendonk. 

From  North  Holland  they  went  to  Rotterdam 
and  from  there  set  sail  to  the  Havre,  France,  and 
there  boarded  vessel  for  the  United  States.  On 
board  they  discovered  several  families  from  Zee- 
land.  Asiatic  cholera  broke  out  on  the  voyage 
and  17  died.  From  New  York  they  went  up  the 
Hudson  to  Troy,  and  from  there  down  the  Erie 
Canal  to  Buffalo.  At  Buffalo  the  company  boarded 
the  steamboat  Key  Stone  State,  and  by  way  of 
the  Great  Lakes  reached  Chicago. 

The  leaders  of  the  company  had  heard  of  the 
settlement  made  two  years  before  at  Low  Prairie, 
called  South  Holland  by  the  Dutch  themselves. 
A  delegation  v/as  sent  out  by  the  company  to  make 
a  survey  of  the  settlement  and  of  the  quality  of 
the  land,  and  report  on  the  general  advisability  of 

[12] 


settling  there.  On  the  return  trip  they  came  along 
the  ridge  which  was  then  and  for  many  years  fol- 
lowing called  High  Prairie,  and  which  is  the  pres- 
ent sight  of  Roseland.  They  were  especially 
attracted  by  the  tall  grass  and  wild  flowers  grow- 
ing in  the  marsh  around  Calumet  Lake.  The 
country  was  unsettled  except  for  one  American 
family.  The  delegation  decided  that  this  was  a 
good  place  to  make  a  settlement,  and  immediately 
proceeded  to  return  to  Chicago  and  bring  back 
their  families.  One  hundred  sixty  acres  was 
bought  between  103rd  and  111th  streets  at  five 
dollars  per  acre.  This  was  divided  into  smaller 
plots  and  allotted  to  the  different  families. 

The  nearest  store  was  at  Blue  Island;  the  rail- 
road did  not  come  for  three  years ;  and  for  years 
the  mail  was  received  at  Chicago.  The  settlers 
made  their  living  by  cattle  raising  and  by  selling 
cheese  and  butter.  At  first  they  went  to  church 
at  South  Holland,  but  in  the  fall,  September  23, 
1849,  a  church  with  eighteen  members  was  organ- 
ized and  a  building  was  erected  in  1850.  Meester 
De  Jong  taught  the  children  and  on  Sundays  read 
the  sermons.  On  September  10,  1850,  the  Rev. 
K.  C.  Klijn  came  from  Milwaukee  to  baptize  the 
first  children  in  the  congregation.  The  first  min- 
ister was  Rev.  M.  A.  Ypma,  of  Graafschap,  Mich- 
igan, and  was  installed  as  pastor  on  February  25, 
1855,  serving  the  High  and  Low  Prairie  congre- 
gations on  alternate  Sundays.     A  larger  church 

[13  1 


was  needed  and  in  1855  a  new  church  was  buih. 

Immigration  from  the  Fatherland  to  the  High 
Prairie  settlement  continued  and  increased  in 
numbers.  Stores  were  set  up,  a  blacksmith  shop 
was  opened,  and  in  1861  Goris  Van  der  Syde,  who 
for  many  years  had  conducted  the  general  store 
in  the  settlement,  was  appointed  the  first  post 
master.  The  name  ''Hope''  was  given  to  the  post 
office,  but  in  1873  the  name  was  changed  to  Rose- 
land.  However,  in  popular  parlance  it  continued 
to  be  known  for  many  years  as  the  Holland  settle- 
ment. A  very  interesting  description  of  the  settle- 
ment is  found  in  Andreas'  History  of  Cook  Coun- 
ty, published  in  1884.  Either  the  description  was 
taken  out  of  story  book,  or  the  community  became 
greatly  changed  for  the  worse  by  the  coming  of 
the  factories. 

''The  boundaries  of  the  hamlet  are  Halsted  street, 
Indiana  Avenue,  and  Ninety-ninth  and  One  Hundred  and 
Fifteenth  streets.  Its  inhabitants  are  sturdy,  phlegmatic, 
industrious  natives  of  Holland ;  and  standing  by  some  of 
the  little  squat  small  windov^ed  houses,  hearing  the  high- 
Dutch  gutturals,  seeing  the  pollards  and  rectangular  in- 
closures,  the  square  faced,  wooden-shoed,  tow^-headed 
little  Dutchmen;  in  fact,  observing  the  'tout  ensemble' 
would  cause  one  to  fancy  themselves  rather  near  Amster- 
dam than  fifteen  miles  from  Chicago.  Through  the  land 
of  the  roses  run  seven  lines  of  railroads,  and  twelve  depots 
are  easily  accessible  from  its  vicinity.  The  first  plat  of 
the  village  was  made  in  1873-74  by  Goris  Van  der  Syde 
and  John  Ton ;  Peter  Dalenberg  next  subdivided  a  tract, 
and  then  James  H.  and  Arthur  Van  Vlissingen  surveyed 
the  main  subdivisions  and  placed  some  four  hundred  acres 
of  their  own  on  the  market ;  these  surveyed  tracts  constitute 

[14] 


Roseland.  .  .  .  There  are  still  numbers  of  antique  houses 
that  might  have  been  erected  forty  years  ago,  in  Roseland ; 
their  age  is  manifest  from  the  peculiar,  small  window- 
panes,  inserted  when  glass  commanded  a  much  higher  rate 
on  the  market  than  now,  and  a  whole  window-light  of 
which  glass  was  about  the  size  of  a  page  of  note  paper/'^ 

This  may  have  been  a  good  description  of  Rose- 
land forty  years  ago  but  certainly  does  not  fit 
it  now.  The  coming  of  great  industrial  plants 
transformed  the  community  from  a  slow  Dutch 
town  into  a  growing,  pushing,  industrial  city. 
There  are  no  industries  in  the  immediate  com- 
munity, but  along  the  Illinois  Central  railroad  and 
along  Calumet  Lake  there  are  many  and  very 
large  factories,  employing  thousands  of  men. 
There  are  the  Pullman  company  factories  em- 
ploying over  10,000  men;  the  Illinois  Central 
shops  at  Burnside  employing  about  5,000  men; 
the  Piano  works  of  the  International  Harvester 
Co.  with  about  2,000  employees ;  and  the  Sherwin- 
Williams  plant  employing  another  1,000,  and  a 
dozen  other  large  factories.  The  result  has  of 
course  been  that  the  Dutch  have  lost  their  pre- 
dominant position  in  the  population  of  the  com- 
munity, and  with  the  exception  of  a  restricted 

1.  pp.  607-609.  Most  of  the  information  was  obtained  from  the 
papers  of  Mrs.  Frederick  Jensen,  the  historian  of  the  Ton  family. 
A  fairly  full  and  very  accurate  record  has  been  kept  by  the  family 
since  its  arrival  in  this  country  as  one  of  the  original  settlers  of 
Roseland.  The  family  was  the  first  to  organize  under  the  laws  of 
the  state.  A  family  picnic  is  held  every  summer.  A  record  is  kept 
of  every  member  of  the  family.  The  family  now  numbers  over 
eight  hundred  and  its  members  are  found  in  every  state  in 
the  union. 

[15] 


area  within  the  original  Dutch  territory,  for  most 
of  them  were  truck  farmers  and  thus  covered  a 
considerable  territory  surrounding  the  town 
proper,  have  become  a  minor  national  group.  This 
can  be  seen  from  the  figures  for  the  ninth  ward 
as  prepared  by  the  Industrial  Department  of  the 
Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  which  are 
based  on  the  1920  census.  Roughly  the  bound- 
aries of  the  Ninth  ward  are  75th  Street  and  138th 
Street,  Stewart  and  Stony  Island  Avenues.  This 
of  course  compromises  the  district  between  75th 
and  85th  Streets  which  never  was  Dutch  territory. 
However  the  predominating  nationalities  accord- 
ing to  the  above  study  are  as  follows :  American, 
17.60%;  Polish,  11.30%;  Irish,  10.90%;  Swed- 
ish, 8.43%;  and  the  Dutch  8.37%.  Under  the 
people  tabulated  as  American  there  must  be  a 
large  number  of  Dutch  stock,  because  they  run 
into  the  third  and  even  fourth  generation. 

It  was  natural  that  with  two  Dutch  settlements 
already  established  near  Chicago,  many  Dutch 
families  would  soon  come  to  live  within  the  great, 
growing  city  itself.  A  little  Dutch  colony  grew 
up  around  Harrison  and  May  Streets.  A  re- 
formed church  was  organized  in  1852  by  Dr.  Van 
Raalte,  the  leader  of  the  Western  Michigan  colo- 
ny. The  colony  grew  through  a  steady  but  small 
stream  of  immigration  from  the  Netherlands 
until  in  1868  the  colony  received  a  marked  acces- 
sion.   In  that  year  there  came  to  the  pastorate  of 

[16] 


the  little  Dutch  Reformed  church  Rev.  Bernar- 
dus  De  Bey  from  the  province  of  Groningen, 
Netherlands.  With  him  came  almost  half  of  his 
congregation.  Rev.  De  Bey  was  an  exceptional 
leader  of  men.  He  had  been  one  of  the  moving 
spirits  in  the  University  of  Groningen,  serving 
as  procurator  after  his  graduation  and  was  a 
leader  of  the  nonconformist  group.  When  an- 
other famine  struck  Holland  in  1867  he  deter- 
mined to  leave  for  the  United  States.  For  twenty- 
five  years  Rev.  De  Bey  was  the  leader  and  coun- 
selor of  the  Dutch  in  Chicago  and  a  man  of 
great  infliuence  on  the  Dutch  throughout  the  west. 

Many  of  Rev.  De  Bey's  people  followed  him 
in  the  succeeding  years,  and  the  De  Bey  home  was 
the  headquarters  of  these  immigrants  upon  their 
arrival  in  this  country.  The  De  Bey  family  was 
wealthy  and  these  imimigrants  remained  in  the 
parsonage  until  they  found  employment,  and 
many  were  helped  to  start  little  businesses'  of 
their  own  by  loans  from  Rev.  De  Bey.  Some  of 
these  people  became  leading  business  men  in  the 
city. 

With  the  growth  of  the  city  the  center  of  the 
Dutch  colony  moved  fifteen  blocks  southwest  to 
Fourteenth  street  and  Ashland  avenue,  which  is 
still  the  heart  of  a  small  Dutch  community.  The 
second  and  third  generations  move  out  of  this 
community,  especially  if  they  rise  in  the  social 
scale.     They  move  farther  to  the  west,  around 

[17] 


Douglas  Park,  and  even  to  Cicero  and  Oak  Park. 
So  also  migrations  from  this  colony  and  the  Rose- 
land  colony  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Dutch 
settlement  in  Englewood.  The  approximate  date 
of  the  establishment  of  the  Englewood  settlement 
can  be  ascertained  from  the  year  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  first  churches.  The  First  Reformed 
church  of  Englewood,  corner  62nd  and  Peoria 
streets,  was  organized  in  1886,  and  the  First 
Christian  Reformed  church,  71st  street  near  Pe- 
oria, the  year  following.  So  also  came  the  small 
truck  farming  communities  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  city  as  the  Dutch  population  increased. 

III.   CHURCHES   AND   RELIGIOUS   LIFE 

r  EOPLE  coming  into  small  Dutch  communities, 
too  small  to  support  even  one  church  well,  are 
surprised  to  find  two  struggling  churches  side  by 
side.  Upon  inquiry  as  to  the  theological  differ- 
ences between  the  two  churches,  they  are  likely 
to  become  still  more  amazed,  for  the  outsider  is 
unable  to  detect  any  real  difference.  Yet  until 
quite  recently  the  differences  in  the  theological 
tenets  of  the  churches  have  been  regarded  very 
seriously  by  the  religious  Dutch  people. 

The  oldest  Dutch  church  body  in  this  country 
is  the  Reformed  church  in  America,  popularly 
known  as  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  The  first 
church  of  the  denomination  was  organized  in 

[18] 


New  York  in  1628,  and  is  thus  one  of  the  very 
oldest  Protestant  churches  on  the  continent.  The 
Dutch  immigrants  of  the  17th  and  18th  centuries 
settled  largely  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and 
about  two-thirds  of  the  membership  of  the  Re- 
formed church  is  centered  in  these  two  states. 
Most  of  these  old  eastern  churches  have  lost  all 
traces  of  their  Dutch  origin,  having  now  a  large 
admixture  of  people  other  than  of  Dutch  descent 
and  are  not  to  be  distinguished  from  the  Presby- 
terian churches  in  this  country. 

When  Van  Raalte  led  his  people  to  Michigan 
in  1847,  he  was  helped  on  his  way  by  the  valuable 
assistance  of  New  Yorkers  of  Dutch  descent. 
This  at  once  established  a  close  connection  be- 
tween the  church  in  the  east  and  the  young  colony 
in  the  west,  and  in  1850  the  newly  founded  west- 
ern churches  united  with  the  old  church  body  in 
the  east.  The  churches  of  Dr.  Scholte's  colony 
in  Iowa  followed  some  time  after,  but  not  without 
some  dissension,  for  Dr.  Scholte  was  very  inde- 
pendent in  his  religious  views,  and  was  loath  to 
see  his  churches  lose  their  ecclesiastical  freedom 
by  uniting  with  a  larger  church  body. 

The  union  of  the  young  churches  of  the  west 
with  the  old  church  of  the  east  seems  to  have 
been  put  through  very  hastily,  and  by  the  action 
of  a  few  leaders.  Dissatisfaction  with  the  union 
was  manifested  from  the  first  and  led  to  a  seces- 
sion in  1857.    |The  seceding  churches  called  them- 

[19] 


selves  the  Christian  Reformed  church.  The  peo- 
ple of  Dutch  descent  in  the  west  are  about  equally 
divided  between  these  two  church  bodies,  each 
having  about  100,000  members  (including  mem- 
bers by  baptism  as  well  as  by  confession). 

Some  of  the  causes  leading  to  the  secession 
are  quite  apparent.  The  Reformed  church  in  the 
east  was  already  over  two  hundred  years  old  when 
the  churches  of  the  second  Dutch  immigration 
were  founded.  They  had  received  little  immigra- 
tion from  Holland  since  1664,  when  the  Dutch 
surrendered  New  York  to  Great  Britain,  and 
these  churches  had,  especially  since  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  become  thoroughly  Americanized. 
Naturally  the  Reformed  church  in  the  east  was 
quite  different  from  the  Reformed  churches  in 
the  west,  probably  not  so  much  in  formal  doctrine 
as  in  language,  customs,  and  spirit.  So  far  as 
the  new  immigrants  in  the  west  were  concerned, 
the  Reformed  church  in  the  east  was  no  different 
from  the  Presbyterian  church. 

More  than  that,  even  among  the  dissenters  in 
the  mother  country  there  had  sprung  up  differ- 
ences, and  these  differences  were  carried  over  to 
this  country  by  the  different  factions.  These  dif- 
ferences, according  to  Dr.  Beets,  had  a  psycholog- 
ical basis. ^  He  discovers  in  the  people  of  the 
different  provinces  different  characteristics.  The 


1.  De  Chr.  Geref.  Kerk  in  N.  A.  Zestig  Jar  en  van  Strijd  en 
Zegen,  1918,  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  pp.  79-100. 

[20] 


people  of  the  province  of  Groningen  are  naive  but 
realistic,  while  those  from  Drenthe  are  very  con- 
servative in  all  things,  and  the  people  of  Ovei- 
ijsel  and  Gelderland  are  independent  and  dem- 
ocratic. The  Friesians  and  the  North  Hollanders 
are  inclined  to  the  intellectual  side,  while  mysti- 
cism holds  a  strong  appeal  for  the  Zeelanders. 
The  latter  are  very  subjective.  Already  in  the 
Netherlands  there  had  developed  two  factions 
among  the  dissenters,  the  ''Geldersche"  faction 
and  the  ''Drentsche''  faction, — the  one  independ- 
ent, democratic,  and  progressive,  and  the  other 
conservative.  Dr.  Van  Raalte,  the  leader  of  the 
Geldersche  faction,  was  eager  to  see  his  people 
become  assimilated  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
thought  a  union  of  the  western  churches  with  the 
eastern  church  would  accelerate  the  process. 

Both  the  Reformed  churches  are  Presbyterian 
in  doctrine  and  government.  The  standards  of 
faith  of  the  two  churches  are  the  Thirty-seven 
Articles  of  the  Belgic  Confession,  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism,  and  the  Canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dord- 
recht. The  reasons  for  the  secession  as  given 
by  the  leaders  of  the  movement  are  as  follows : 

1.  Departure  of  the  Calvinism  of  the  stand- 
ards, particularly  as  regards  the  doctrines  of  elec- 
tion and  atonement. 

2.  Neglect  of  Catechism  preaching  and  teach- 
ing. 

3.  The  use  of  hymns  in  the  church  services. 

[21] 


4.  The  toleration  of  Free  Masons  as  members 
in  good  standing. 

5.  Private  baptisms  instead  of  the  regular  pub- 
lic baptismal  services. 

6.  Open  Communion. 

7.  Neglect  of  family  visiting  as  required  by  the 
church  order.^ 

It  must  be  said  here  that  these  things  were  not 
charged  by  the  seceding  group  against  the  west- 
ern churches,  except  in  rare  instances,  but  against 
the  eastern  churches  with  which  they  had  become 
affiliated.  In  1880  another  bitter  struggle  de- 
veloped in  the  Reformed  church  and  whole  con- 
gregations as  well  as  individual  families  went 
over  to  the  Christian  Reformed  church. 

That  both  churches  were  very  conservative  in 
the  beginning,  even  in  trivial  matters,  is  a  matter 
admitted  by  the  membership  of  the  churches 
themselves.  Rev.  De  Bey  was  a  forward  looking 
man  and  planned  great  things  for  his  people,  but 
seldom  did  he  succeed  in  putting  his  plans  into 
execution.  He  had  his  heart  set  especially  on 
three  things.  One  was  that  the  people  of  his 
church  buy  a  large  tract  of  land  in  what  is  now 
Forest  Home,  and  there  in  a  more  beautiful  and 
wholesome  environment,  build  a  Dutch  commu- 
nity. This  the  people  would  never  consider,  prob- 
ably for  economic  reasons  (See  Note  i),  as  their 


1.  Beets,  The  Christian  Reformed  Church,  pp.  46-47. 
[22] 


work  demanded  that  they  Hve  near  the  city. 
Secondly,  Rev.  De  Bey  wanted  the  very  simple 
innovation  in  the  church  services  of  singing  whole 
and  half  notes,  rather  than  on  whole  notes  alone. 
The  change  was  not  effected  during  the  life  of 
Rev.  De  Bey.  Thirdly,  the  Dutch  pastor  wished 
an  organ  installed  in  the  church.  ,The  church 
almost  split  on  the  proposition,  and  it  was  only  due 
to  the  minister's  tact  plus  his  donation  of  $600  for 
the  purpose  that  this  proposition  was  finally 
carried.  ^ 

The  Christian  Reformed  churches  were  the 
more  conservative,  and  in  general  are  still  today. 
If  little  matters  like  whole  and  half  notes,  and 
the  installation  of  an  organ  caused  bitter  church 
quarrels  in  the  early  days,  the  language  question 
in  the  latter  days  caused  even  more  bitter  fights. 
Rev.  De  Bey  wished  to  at  once  organize  churches 
in  which  the  English  language  would  be  used  ex- 
clusively. The  Dutch  have  always  stuck  perti- 
naciously to  their  language  in  their  church  ser- 
vices. Down  to  1764  the  Dutch  language  was 
still  used  exclusively  in  the  Dutch  Reformed 
churches  in  the  city  of  New  York,  although  Dutch 
had  not  been  taught  in  the  schools  for  over  a 
century.  However,  English  was  not  introduced 
in  the  school  at  Flatbush,  Long  Island,  until  1762, 
a  century  after  the  school  had  been  established. 


1.  Dr.  Cornelia  B.  De  Bey,  daughter  of  Rev.  De  Bey,  has  given 
the  writer  much  information  on  the  old  Dutch  community  life. 

[23  1 


English  was  not  introduced  into  the  services  of 
the  Dutch  Reformed  churches  in  New  York  city 
until  there  had  been  ''a  lawsuit,  besides  sad  losses 
of  temper,  money,  and  membership/'  The  same 
may  be  said  for  the  Dutch  Reformed  churches  of 
the  west.  It  has  been  found  that  over  fifteen  per- 
cent of  the  membership  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Roseland  was  of  Dutch  stock,  judging 
by  the  names  of  the  members  and  there  is  hardly 
a  Presbyterian  church  in  the  city  among  whose 
members  there  are  not  many  people  with  Dutch 
names. 

The  reason  that  the  Hollander  is  so  conserva- 
tive in  his  church  and  religious  life  is  probably 
due  to  the  fact  that  in  his  economic  and  social 
life  he  is  forced  to  make  adjustments  to  his  new 
environment.  He  has  no  choice.  Thus  it  often 
happens  that  the  second  generation  is  American- 
ized in  all  but  his  church  life.  His  church  life 
he  can  order  as  he  pleases  and  here  alone  his  old 
loyalties  can  find  expression. 

The  immigrant  is  generally  of  the  lower 
ranks  of  society,  and  it  is  economic  distress  that 
brings  him  to  leave  his  native  land.  He  leaves 
the  institutions  about  which  his  whole  life  has 
centered  and  he  is  thrown  into  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent environment  to  which  he  must  either  make 
adjustments  or  starve.  He  makes  such  adjust- 
ments as  he  must,  but  on  those  institutions  which 
he  can  bring  over  to  this  country  he  concentrates 

[24] 


all  his  old  attachments  and  loyalties.  As  a  result 
the  church  remains  extremely  conservative.  What 
effects  this  has  on  the  family  and  social  life  of 
the  people  will  be  discussed  later,  but  it  can  at 
once  be  seen  that  there  is  often  considerable  fric- 
tion between  the  parents  and  the  children.  As  to 
the  present  status  of  the  language  question  it 
may  be  said  that  it  is  no  longer  a  source  of  con- 
troversy except  in  the  small,  outlying  churches. 
Half  of  the  churches  use  the  English  language 
exclusively,  and  there  is  no  longer  a  church  in  the 
city  which  does  not  have  some  English  services. 
Of  the  three  services  a  day,  (three  services  is 
the  rule  in  those  churches  in  which  the  English 
language  is  not  exclusively  used),  one  or  two  of 
the  services  are  conducted  in  English. 

The  Hollander  is  very  slow  to  Americanize  his 
church  life.  Those  starting  the  first  English 
churches  were  looked  down  upon  and  suffered 
no  little  social  ostracism.  Rather  than  see  the 
English  language  introduced  in  the  church  the 
older  people  were  content  to  see  their  children 
leave  their  church  or  go  to  some  other  church. 
The  older  people  somehow  connected  up  their 
Calvinism  with  the  language,  and  feared  that  the 
loss  of  the  one  would  inevitably  mean  the  loss  of 
the  other.  They  were  afraid  that  with  American- 
ization they  would  lose  their  distinct  principles. 
On  the  same  ground  they  opposed  all  ritual  and 
even  the  use  of  flowers.     These  things  would 

[25] 


mean  a  transfer  of  interest  and  emphasis  with  the 
result  of  a  diluted  gospel.  The  Americanization 
process  was  held  back  as  long  as  possible,  but 
when  the  churches  which  introduced  no  English 
into  their  services  saw  their  best  membership  con- 
tinually draining  off,  they  realized  they  were  play- 
ing a  losing  game  and  that  they  would  soon  find 
themselves  with  a  large  church  establishment  to 
keep  up  but  with  no  members  with  which  to  do 
it.  Since  the  war  they  have  completely  changed 
front,  and  it  is  amusing  to  see  these  old  Dutch 
churches  frantically  transforming  themselves  in- 
to English  speaking  churches,  in  an  effort  to  save 
themselves.  Old  ministers  who  had  never  preached 
an  English  sermon  and  a  few  years  back  would 
have  disdained  to  do  so,  are  now  heroically  strug- 
gling with  the  English  language  in  the  pulpit. 

The  marks  of  difference  of  the  two  protestant 
denominations  are  no  longer  very  distinct,  and 
the  old  bars  between  the  two  are  continually 
being  more  and  more  lowered.  It  is  no  longer  un- 
common to  see  ministers  of  one  church  accept 
pastorates  in  the  other.  But  there  are  still  a  few 
marks  of  difference  which  have  become  really 
more  intense  than  lessened.  One  of  these  is  that 
the  Christian  school  movement  never  had  any 
vogue  in  the  Reformed  churches  of  the  west, 
whereas  in  the  Christian  Reformed  church  the 
movement  has  gained  increasing  momentum.  The 
difference  in  attitude  of  the  two  churches  toward 

[26] 


the  Christian  school  has  accentuated  different 
tendencies,  and  is  tending  to  keep  the  two  church- 
es apart  after  many  other  differences  have  either 
disappeared  or  are  tending  to  disappear. 

A  second  difference  between  the  two  churches 
may  be  said  to  be  their  attitude  in  regard  to  mem- 
bership in  secret  societies,  the  Masonic  Order  in 
particular.  [The  Reformed  church  leaves  the  mat- 
ter entirely  to  the  local  churches  whereas  the 
Christian  Reformed  church  has  laid  down  a  rul- 
ing by  the  Synod  opposing  membership  in  such 
orders.  Many  of  the  local  churches  of  the  Re- 
formed denomination  do  not  allow  their  mem- 
bers to  join  secret  orders,  but  more  of  them  say 
nothing  about  it,  and  there  is  probably  not  a  Re- 
formed church  in  the  east  which  does  exclude 
from  its  membership  persons  belonging  to  a  secret 
order. 

The  reasons  for  opposition  to  the  lodges  are 
as  follows: 

1.  Their  initial  oaths,  binding  to  things  not  yet 
made  known  to  the  candidate  for  admission,  are 
unscriptural. 

2.  The  secrecy  of  these  societies  in  general  is 
unscriptural. 

3.  Their  selfishness  is  unscriptural. 

4.  Their  binding  together  in  a  common  brother- 
hood the  godly  and  the  ungodly  is  unscriptural. 

5.  The  lodge  often  attempts  to  be  an  ''empire 
within  an  empire.'' 

[27] 


6.  The  nomenclature  of  the  lodges  is  often  im- 
modest, ludicrous,  unrepublican,  and  sometimes 
even  blasphemous. 

7.  Many  of  their  ceremonies  are  too  frivolous 
for  an  earnest  Christian  to  engage  in. 

8.  The  abuse  of  the  Bible  in  the  ritual.^ 
Another  distinction  between  the  two  churches 

is  that  the  Christian  Reformed  church  uses 
psalms  exclusively  in  its  public  worship,  whereas 
the  Reformed  church  has  long  since  introduced 
the  use  of  hymns.  However  all  churches,  whether 
Reformed  or  Christian  Reformed,  use  psalms  ex- 
clusively as  long  as  the  services  are  Dutch.  But 
now  even  in  the  Christian  Reformed  church 
hymns  are  beginning  to  be  used.  Also  it  may  be 
said  that  the  Christian  Reformed  church  still 
faithfully  adheres  to  the  rule  that  the  minister 
must  base  at  least  one  of  his  sermons  on  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism.  This  practice  has  to  a 
large  degree  lapsed  in  the  Reformed  churches. 
The  Christian  Reformed  church  is  also  probably 
more  regular  in  catechetical  instruction.  All  the 
young  people  attend  an  hour  class  each  week  con- 
ducted by  the  pastor  in  which  first  biblical  history 
is  studied  and  then  doctrine.  This  is  in  addition 
to  and  distinct  from  the  Sunday  schools. 

The  ministry  of  the  churches  is  very  well  edu- 
cated. Most  of  the  Reformed  ministers  are  edu- 
cated at  Hope  college  and  Western  seminary  at 

1.  Beets,  The  Christian  Reformed  Church,  pp.  225-228. 

[28] 


Holland,  Mich.,  while  the  Christian  Reformed 
ministers  for  the  most  part  receive  their  education 
at  Calvin  college  and  the  Theological  school  at 
Grand  Rapids.  The  rainisters  are,  except  for  the 
older  ones,  college  graduates,  and  have  spent 
three  years  or  more  in  a  theological  course.  Only 
college  graduates  are  now  admitted  to  the  semina- 
ries. In  the  last  few  years  it  has  become  the  rule 
for  the  candidates  for  the  ministry  in  the  Chris- 
tian Reformed  church  to  spend  a  year  or  two  in 
post  graduate  work  at  Princeton  Theological 
seminary. 

Of  the  eleven  Christian  Reformed  ministers  in 
Chicago  at  the  present  time,  one  has  a  doctors 
degree  from  the  Free  University  of  Amsterdam, 
four  have  taken  graduate  work  at  Princeton,  two 
have  taken  graduate  work  at  McCormick  (Theo- 
logical seminary,  and  one  is  about  to  receive  his 
Ph.  D.  from  the  University  of  Chicago.  Due  to 
the  removal  of  one  of  the  most  popular  professors 
at  the  Christian  Reformed  seminary  at  Grand 
Rapids  many  students  for  the  ministry  of  that 
church  now  take  all  their  theological  work  at 
Princeton. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  the  Christian 
Reformed  church  is  almost  identical  in  doctrine 
and  church  practice  with  the  United  Presbyterian 
church.  An  attempt  was  made  to  effect  a  union 
of  the  two  into  one  church  body  but  this  failed. 
So  also  there  have  been  movements  to  reunite  the 

[29] 


two  Dutch  Reformed  church  bodies,  but  these 
have  also  failed.  The  Christian  Reformed  church 
is  more  Calvinistic,  and  has  a  stronger  theological 
and  doctrinal  bent. 

The  religious  Hollander's  chief  intellectual  and 
social  interests  are  centered  about  the  church.  He 
is  well  grounded  in  the  rudiments  of  Calvinistic 
theology  due  to  his  attendance  at  the  Christian 
schools  and  the  catechism  classes  taught  by  the 
minister,  and  the  doctrinal  sermons  he  hears  from 
the  pulpit  every  Sunday.  This  gives  him  an  in- 
tense interest  in  the  theological  seminary  of  his 
church  at  which  the  ministers  are  educated.  He 
stands  continually  on  watch  to  challenge  the  or- 
thodoxy of  the  students  that  come  from  it,  and  he 
reads  with  avidity  all  the  theological  controver- 
sies that  are  carried  on  in  the  church  papers  and 
by  means  of  pamphlets.  The  percentage  of  the 
members  of  the  Reformed  churches  that  read 
their  church  papers  is  exceptionally  high.  The 
Christian  Reformed  church  stands  highest  among 
all  the  churches  in  the  United  States  in  the  per- 
centage of  its  people  that  are  subscribers  of  its 
official  church  organs.  De  Wachter,  the  Dutch 
weekly  of  the  Christian  Reformed  church,  has 
over  a  thousand  subscribers  in  Chicago  and 
vicinit}^,  and  the  number  of  readers  of  The  Ban- 
ner, the  English  weekly,  is  nine  hundred.  The 
Reformed  church  papers  have  a  much  smaller 
number  of  subscribers.     Then  also  Onze  Toe- 

[30] 


komst,  a  Dutch  weekly  published  in  Chicago,  has 
some  twelve  hundred  subscribers  in  the  Chicago 
district.  This  paper  also  has  a  strong  religious 
bent  and  publishes  much  church  news  of  the  two 
denominations. 

The  Dutch  are  very  regular  attendants  at 
church  services.  There  was  a  time  when  he  at- 
tended three  services  a  day.  There  are  no  pew 
rents,  and  the  family  usually  sits  together.  Chil- 
dren are  brought  to  church  when  very  young  and 
when  they  become  restless  are  fed  peppermints, 
or  if  very  young,  are  allowed  to  go  to  sleep  dur- 
ing a  part  of  the  sermon.  The  air  in  the  churches 
of  the  older  type  is  allowed  to  become  stale,  and 
this  mingled  with  the  peppermint  and  cologne 
odors,  for  the  old  Dutch  ladies  are  very  fond  of 
using  cologne,  often  caused  a  peculiar  odor  to 
pervade  the  churches.  (See  Note  2,)  Except  in 
the  older  English  speaking  churches,  there  are  no 
choirs.  The  Dutchman  will  not  tolerate  them. 
The  Dutch  supports  the  church  well, — bazaars  are 
never  held  to  raise  funds  for  the  upkeep  of  the 
church  itself.  As  compared  to  American  churches 
in  general,  an  outstanding  feature  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  church  is  the  large  number  of  men  pres- 
ent at  ,the  church  services.  Indeed  the  males 
slightly  outnumber  the  females  in  the  membership 
of  the  Christian  Reformed  church.  The  services 
generally  last  a  full  hour  and  a  half.  The  time 
given  to  music  is  less  and  the  time  given  to  preach- 

[31] 


ing  and  prayer  is  greater  than  that  in  the  Ameri- 
can churches.  In  the  Dutch  churches  the  consis- 
tory members,  the  elders  and  the  deacons,  sit  in  a 
special  seat  in  the  front  part  of  the  church.  This 
seat  is  reserved  for  them  and  when  the  time  for 
the  beginning  of  the  services  arrives  they  come 
marching  in  a  procession  following  the  pastor. 
In  some  churches  they  remain  standing  for  a 
short  silent  prayer  before  being  seated,  and  stand 
up  again  while  the  pastor  is  offering  the  long 
prayer.  After  the  sermon  the  minister  is  not 
found  at  the  door  greeting  his  people,  but  he  must 
first  shake  hands  with  all  the  elders  and  deacons 
before  he  can  go  among  his  congregation.  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  elders  to  stand  guard  over  the 
^'soundness"  of  the  minister's  preaching,  and  if 
an  elder  thinks  he  has  detected  heresy  in  the 
sermon  he  refuses  to  offer  his  hand  until  the 
minister  has  satisfied  his  doubts.  These  customs 
have  disappeared  in  the  English  speaking 
churches. 

There  is  but  one  Dutch  Catholic  church  in  Chi- 
cago and  that  is  located  in  Roseland.  It  was  or- 
ganized in  1900  and  now  numbers  240  families 
and  about  1,100  members.  Most  of  them  origi- 
nally came  from  Brabant  and  Zeeland  on  the 
Belgian  border.  There  are  also  many  Dutch 
members  of  the  Belgian  Flemish  Catholic  churches 
in  different  parts  of  the  city.  The  Dutch  Catholic 
church  has  not  yet  a  parochial  school  but  plans 

[32] 


are  under  way  to  open  one  next  year.  Father 
Van  Heertum  is  the  parish  priest. 

There  are  also  a  small  group  of  Baptists  in 
Roseland  and  in  South  Holland.  About  once  a 
month  Rev.  D.  Laansma  from  Grand  Rapids, 
Michigan,  the  pastor  of  a  Dutch  Baptist  church 
there,  comes  to  Chicago  to  conduct  meetings  for 
the  Dutch  Baptists.  The  meetings  are  held  in 
the  Swedish  Baptist  church  in  Roseland. 

There  is  also  a  large  non-church  group  of  Hol- 
landers in  Chicago.  They  belonged  for  the  most 
part  to  the  State  church  in  Holland  and  were  of 
the  liberal  wing  of  that  church.  By  the  evan- 
gelical Dutch  people  they  are  called  ''Modernen'' 
(liberals).  When  they  come  to  this  country  they 
usually  drop  all  church  connections.  ''Moderne'^ 
ministers  from  the  Netherlands  have  at  sundry 
times  attempted  to  establish  Unitarian  churches 
in  Chicago,  but  such  churches  have  never  had 
more  than  a  short  and  precarious  existence. 

The  Dutch  church  population  in  Chicago  is  as 
follows : 

Roseland:       Reformed 3586 

Christian  Reformed 2401 

Catholic 1100 

Englewood:    Reformed  1225 

Christian  Reformed 1665 

West  Side:     Reformed 1035 

Christian  Reformed 2425 

Suburbs:         Reformed   2182 

Christian  Reformed 2559 

[33] 


Great  missionary  zeal  has  always  characterized 
the  Dutch  Reformed  churches.  The  Reformed 
church  was  one  of  the  very  first  to  go  into  foreign 
missionary  work,  and  today  carries  on  an  exten- 
sive work  in  Japan,  China,  India,  and  Arabia.  The 
Reformed  church  has  also  carried  on  a  very  suc- 
cessful work  under  the  Winnebago  Indians  in 
Nebraska.  Many  men  that  have  gone  out  from 
the  Reformed  Mission  Board  have  become  world 
famous.  The  extraordinary  and  interesting  career 
of  the  Reverend  Guido  F.  Verbeck  in  Japan,  who 
established  the  Japan  Mission  in  1859,  is  one  of 
the  brightest  chapters  in  mission  history.  Dr. 
Samuel  M.  Zwemer,  explorer,  lecturer,  editor 
The  Mission  World,  and  a  leader  in  the  Student 
Volunteer  Movement;  Dr.  Paul  Harrison,  Rev. 
Livingstone  Warnshuis,  and  Rev.  Oltman,  are 
all  outstanding  figures  in  world  missions  today. 
The  Christian  Reformed  church  has  not  felt  itself 
sufficiently  strong  financially  to  carry  the  bur- 
den of  foreign  mission  work  until  within  the  last 
few  years.  It  has  carried  on  an  extensive  mission 
work  for  years  among  the  Navaho  Indians  in  the 
southwest,  and  a  few  years  ago  took  over  a  large 
mission  field  in  China. 

Bethany  Reformed  church  of  Roseland  has  its 
own  missionaries  in  the  field  in  the  persons  of 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hofstra  who  are  in  the  Amoy, 
China,  Mission.  This  church,  in  cooperation  with 
the  Gano  Reformed  church,  also  conducts  a  local 

[34] 


mission  at  116th  and  State  streets,  in  the  heart 
of  the  Httle  ItaHan  colony  there.  The  Reformed 
churches  arid  the  Christian  Reformed  churches 
in  Roseland  cooperate  in  the  support  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  Lithuanian  mission,  located  on  the 
corner  of  Indiana  avenue  and  107th  street.  The 
Christian  Reformed  churches  in  Roseland  have 
united  in  the  support  of  Rev.  L.  P.  Brink,  a  mis- 
sionary on  the  Navaho  mission  field.  Nearly  all 
the  churches  conduct  mission  Sunday  schools. 

The  most  important  and  in  many  ways  the  most 
interesting-  mission  of  the  Dutch  churches  in  Chi- 
cago is  the  Helping-  Hand  Mission  established  and 
supported  by  the  Christian  Reformed  churches  in 
Chicago.  It  is  located  at  850  West  Madison 
street  in  the  heart  of  Hobohemia,  with  branches 
at  1126  West  Van  Buren  and  321  East  83rd 
street.  The  Mission  has  forty- four  beds  for  tran- 
sients for  which  it  charges  twenty-five  cents  a 
night.  Many  roomers  are  housed  permanently. 
In  the  winter  it  feeds  about  100  men  a  day.  Dis- 
carded clothes  from  Christian  Reformed  churches 
throughout  the  country  are  collected  and  sent  to 
the  Mission  where  they  are  distributed  during  the 
winter.  Besides  the  usual  mission  gospel  meet- 
ings and  Sunday  School  classes,  the  Mission  also 
conducts  sewing  classes. 

Aside  from  the  mission  work,  the  Helping 
Hand  Mission  carries  on  another  very  interesting 
work.    The  Christian  Reformed  church  conducts 

[35] 


a  Seamen's  Home  at  Hoboken,  N.  J.  This  insti- 
tution carries  on  the  double  task  of  doing  mission- 
ary work  among  the  sailors  and  of  giving  aid  to 
Dutch  immigrants.  If  the  immigrants  wish  to 
go  to  Chicago  or  points  beyond,  the  Seamen's 
Home  authorities  send  them  on  to  the  Helping 
Hand  Mission.  Here  they  are  met  at  the  station, 
given  a  temporary  home  if  they  intend  to  remain 
in  Chicago,  or  given  assistance  to  go  on  if  their 
destination  is  farther  west.  These  immigrants 
are  naturally  directed  to  Dutch  settlements  when- 
ever it  is  possible. 

A  very  good  characterization  of  the  Mission 
and  its  superintendent,  John  VandeWater,  is 
given  by  Nels  Anderson  in  'The  Hobo." 

''John  VandeWater,  The  Friend  of  the  Deserving. 

'The  Helping  Hand  Mission  at  850  W.  Madison  street 
is  essentially  a  family  mission  with  Sunday  School,  parents 
classes,  and  other  auxiliary  activities.  It  does  not,  how- 
ever, neglect  the  homeless  man.  Superintendent  Vande- 
Water, for  the  last  eight  years  superintendent  of  the  Help- 
ing Hand  Mission,  is  one  of  the  few  practical  men  in  the 
mission  work.  Throughout  the  winter  his  organization 
feeds,  upon  an  average,  100  men  a  day.  He  operates  a 
woodyard  and  any  able-bodied  man  who  asks  for  aid  is 
given  a  chance  to  work.  His  is  the  only  mission  that  has 
such  a  test. 

"Mr.  VandeWater  does  not  care  for  converts  that  must 
be  'bought'  with  doughnuts  and  coffee,  and  has  little  pa- 
tience with  the  missions  imposed  upon  by  men  who  become 
converted  only  for  a  place  to  sleep  and  something  to  eat. 
He  is  in  favor  of  concerted  action  among  missions,  because 
where  they  work  separately  they  lay  themselves  open  to 
exploitation. 

[36] 


''The  homeless  man  is  often  an  ungrateful  individual, 
but  Mr.  VandeWater  feels  that  more  than  a  fourth  of  the 
men  aided  really  appreciate  the  help  they  get.  Many  men 
prefer  the  mission  floor  in  cold  weather  to  the  floor  in  the 
'flop-house/  which  is  seldom  scrubbed."  ^ 

A  further  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  work  done 

by  the  mission  can  be  obtained  from  the  annual 

report  of  its  work: 

Gospel  meetings  407 

Hospital  visits    67 

Family  visits 700 

Tracts  distributed 8300 

Gospels  distributed 955 

Testaments  distributed 277 

Bibles  placed  in  homes 30 

Classes  with  the  children 316 

Classes  with  the  adults 286 

Immigrants  helped 78 

Hollanders  who  have  been  in  the  mission 175 

Sunday  school  enrollment 175 

The  Reformed  churches  have  never  tolerated 
the  usual  revival  methods  in  their  churches  and 
they  have  never  introduced  them  in  their  mission 
work.  They  rely  rather  on  the  more  practical 
and  enduring  methods  of  education  and  continued 
and  helpful  assistance  to  the  family.  Families 
are  induced  to  leave  tenement  districts  and  take 
up  their  residence  in  a  better  district  of  the  city, 
and  to  unite  with  some  evangelical  church.  Many 
families  have  been  brought  into  the  church  as  a 
result  of  the  Mission's  work. 

Mr.  A.  Huisjen  is  the  assistant  superintendent 

1.  pp.  179-180. 

[37] 


of  the  Mission  and  Miss  H.  Hamstra  is  in  charge 
of  the  women's  department. 

The  Chicago  Jewish  Mission  is  at  1324  W.  14th 
Street,  very  near  the  Dutch  settlement  on  Ash- 
land avenue,  for  this  little  settlement  of  Dutch 
people  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  Jewish  people. 
This  mission  is  supported  by  the  Christian  Re- 
formed denomination  and  now  occupies  the  old 
building  of  the  First  church.  The  mission  was 
until  recently  in  charge  of  the  Reverends  John 
Rottenberg  and  Elias  Newman,  both  converted 
Jews.  Rev.  Newman  left  recently  to  engage  in 
missionary  work  under  the  Jews  in  Palestine. 

The  Jewish  mission  conducts  street  meetings, 
daily  vacation  bible  schools,  and  sewing  classes. 
The  Mission  workers  meet  with  bitter  opposition 
on  the  part  of  the  Jews.  An  instance  of  this  bitter 
opposition  occurred  Labor  Day,  1923,  when  a 
picnic  was  arra.nged  for  the  mothers  and  children 
who  frequented  the  Mission.  The  picnickers  were 
to  go  by  automobiles  to  Highlands  and  join  in  the 
picnic  of  the  Christian  Reformed  church  there. 
Due  to  an  accident  one  of  the  automobiles  was 
delayed  for  a  little  while  with  the  children  and 
mothers  already  on  board.  A  crowd  of  Jews  at 
once  collected  and  proceeded  to  send  a  shower  of 
stones  and  eggs  at  the  heads  of  the  luckless  per- 
sons in  the  auto.  A  few  of  the  children  were 
hurt  and  the  clothes  of  all  were  soiled. 

Plans  are  under  way  to  erect  a  new  building 
[38] 


and  greatly  extending  the  work.  Both  a  medical 
and  a  dental  clinic  will  be  opened  as  well  as  a 
general  dispensary  conducted,  with  a  nurse  con- 
tinually in  charge. 


IV.    SCHOOLS  AND  EDUCATION 

As  WE  NOTED  under  the  discussion  of  the  mo- 
tives of  the  immigration  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  the  desire  for  freedom  to  work  out  a 
more  positive  Christian  education  for  their  chil- 
dren was  one  of  the  most  important  reasons  that 
brought  them  to  this  country.^  In  the  Nether- 
lands at  that  time  they  were  unable  to  educate 
their  children  in  their  own  schools  and  the  state 
schools  were  under  the  control  of  the  Liberals. 
America  held  out  to  them  the  hope  of  achieving 
their  educational  program.  And  yet  by  the  irony 
of  fate  the  non-conformist  group  in  Holland  with 
the  aid  of  the  Catholics  have  won  a  sweeping  vic- 
tory not  only  in  acquiring  the  freedom  to  set  up 
these  schools,  but  in  getting  a  subsidy  for  such 
schools  from  the  state.  As  a  result  the  Christian 
school  movement  in  the  Netherlands  won  a  com- 
plete triumph  whereas  the  Dutch  in  this  country 
have  for  the  most  part  allowed  this  program  to 
lapse. 


1.  Van  Raalte,  Landverhtiizing ,  p.  8-17. 

[39] 


For  years  nothing  was  done  to  carry  out  the 
program  for  Christian  education,  except  in  the 
field  of  secondary  and  higher  education.  This 
can  probably  be  explained  from  the  fact  that  the 
Dutch  immigrants  found  educational  conditions 
so  much  more  favorable  in  the  United  States  than 
they  were  in  Holland.  In  Holland  the  line  of 
demarcation  between  the  orthodox  people  and  the 
liberals  was  sharply  marked  and  the  liberals  were 
in  complete  control.  In  America  matters  stood 
quite  differently.  Except  for  the  mild  sway  of 
Unitarianism  in  New  England,  American  society 
was  prevailingly  orthodox  in  tone.  The  main- 
tenance of  several  Christian  schools  under  such 
conditions  seemed  to  many  quite  superfluous,  al- 
though Dr.  Van  Raalte  never  dropped  the  ideal. 

If  the  matter  had  rested  with  the  early  immi- 
grants, the  program  for  Christian  primary  educa- 
tion would  have  been  dropped.  But  in  Holland 
the  movement  had  acquired  great  impetus  and 
free  Christian  schools,  supported  by  the  parents, 
sprang  up  in  great  numbers.  So  strong  did  the 
movement  become,  and  so  numerous  these  schools 
that  in  1917  the  Clerical  party  in  cooperation  with 
the  Calvinist  party  was  strong  enough  to  force 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  placing  the 
private  schools  on  the  same  basis  as  the  public 
schools.  The  Elementary  Education  Act,  put  into 
force  on  January  1,  1921,  provided  that  the  costs 
of  primary  education  should  be  defrayed  from 

[40] 


the  public  treasury,  no  matter  whether  it  be  given 
in  private  or  pubHc  schools,  and  subsidies  v^ere 
granted  to  private  institutions  for  secondary  and 
higher  education  on  the  fulfillment  of  certain 
conditions.  Thus  Holland,  one  of  the  very  first 
countries  to  establish  a  public  school  system,  has 
gone  a  long  way  toward  handing  the  schools  back 
to  private  control. 

The  Calvinistic  Dutch  immigrants  of  the  last 
forty  years  have  been  educated  in  these  schools 
and  upon  coming  to  this  country  they  sought  to 
establish  such  schools  here.  Besides  the  religious 
motive  there  is  another  factor  present  in  the 
Christian  school  movement,  more  or  less  con- 
sciously present  in  the  older  people,  and  that  is 
the  desire  to  keep  up  the  Dutch  language,  Dutch 
ideals  generally,  and  to  stay  the  breaking  up  of 
the  Dutch  communities. 

The  principles  underlying  the  free  Christian 
school  movement  have  been  fully  stated  in  the 
propagandist  literature,  which  is  extensive.^  The 
advocates  of  the  Christian  school  contend  that 
the  education  of  the  children  is  the  duty  and  the 
right  of  the  parents.  Education  is  not  the  duty 
of  the  state  except  for  those  who  refuse  or  fail 
to  make  proper  provision  for  the  education  of 
their  children.     In  its  political  philosophy  the 

1.  Hylkema,  The  Free  Christian  School,  Eerdmans-Sevensma 
Co.,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.  J.  Broene  (professor  Calvin  College), 
Some  Current  Educational  Ideals.  Also  numerous  pamphlets  and 
articles  in  the  Holland  American  press. 

[41] 


movement  partakes  of  a  sort  of  pluralism/  If 
then,  education  is  the  duty  of  the  parents,  Chris- 
tian parents  must  give  their  children  a  positively 
Christian  education.  This  the  government  in  its 
public  schools  can  not  do.  The  public  schools 
must  necessarily  be  neutral,  because  they  must 
accommodate  people  of  all  shades  of  belief. 

By  Christian  education  the  Christian  school 
advocates  do  not  mean  mere  formal  Bible  read- 
ing and  repetition  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  but  by  it 
they  mean  that  a  positive  Christian  tone  shall  pre- 
vail in  the  teaching  of  all  the  branches,  that  relig- 
ion must  be  the  chief  motive  in  life,  and  that  the 
child  shall  leave  the  school  with  a  well  rounded 
Christian  character.  The  advocates  of  the  Chris- 
tian school  hold  that  these  schools  should  be  sup- 
ported and  controlled  not  by  the  church,  but  by 
societies  organized  for  this  purpose.  For  this 
reason  they  resent  the  term  parochial  as  applied 
to  their  schools,  and  always  speak  of  them  as  free 
Christian  schools.  They  have  tried  to  secure  the 
cooperation  of  other  evangelical  church  people  in 
these  schools  but  thus  far  have  not  been  very  suc- 
cessful. 


1.  See  Dr.  A.  Kuyper,  Lectures  on  Calvinism,  gWtmt  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary  in  1898.  Third  Lecture,  Calvinism  and 
Politics.  Dr.  Kuyper  was  leader  of  the  Calvinist  party  and  prime 
minister  of  the  Netherlands,  1901-4.  He  speaks  of  the  sovereignties 
of  the  different  spheres,  of  the  state,  of  society,  and  of  the  church. 
Each  is  sovereign  in  its  ow^n  sphere,  but  may  not  intrude  in 
other  spheres.  See  also  his  Sovereignty  in  the  Spheres  of  Society, 
1880.  See  also  Religion  and  Culture,  July,  1923,  article  by  H.  J. 
G.  Van  Andel,  "Is  the  State  Supreme?'* 

[42] 


There  are  five  Christian  schools  within  the 
Hmits  of  Chicago,  two  in  the  state  border  settle- 
ment, and  one  in  South  Holland.  The  following 
statistics  in  regard  to  these  schools  was  taken 
from  the  Yearbook  of  the  Free  Christian  Schools 
in  America,  1923-1924. 

Year  of  Property  Society  No.  of         No.  of 

School  Organization         Value  Members        Pupils      Teachers 

Ebenezer 1893  $38,000  330  387  9 

(1626  W.  15th  St.) 

Englewood   1897  30,000  300  360  9 

(7142  S.  Sang-amon) 

Roseland 1891  300  370  9 

(104  Street  near  Wentworth) 

Roseland    1884  228  228  -  6 

(110  Place,  near  State) 

Timothy    1910  20,000  250  130  4 

(13th  Street  and  Tripp) 

South  Holland....  1912  13,000              50              75            2 

Highland    1907  '     10,000             75            126           4 

Munster    1907  10,000             95            140           4 

Total  number  of  pupils 1816 

Total  number  of  teachers 47 

Chicago  Christian 

High  School....  1918  $50,000           750           118           7 
(See  Note  3-) 

The  Christian  school  movement  is  confined  al- 
most entirely  to  the  Christian  Reformed  church. 
This  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  immigrants 
of  the  last  forty  years  found  their  way  into  the 
Christian  Reformed  church  in  much  greater  num- 
bers than  into  the  Reformed  church.  Most  of 
these  people  had  their  training  in  the  Christian 
schools  of  the  Netherlands  and  some  had  been 
leaders  in  the  struggle  for  these  schools  in  their 
native  land.  Very  few  people  of  the  English 
speaking  Reformed  churches  send  their  children 

[43] 


to  the  Christian  school.  Children  of  the  Dutch 
speaking  Reformed  churches  are  found  in  the 
Christian  schools  but  not  in  very  large  numbers. 
Christian  school  leaders  have  made  strenuous 
efforts  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  the  Reformed 
church  people,  but  on  the  whole  without  success. 
In  no  school  do  the  children  of  the  Reformed 
church  people  constitute  more  than  twenty  per- 
cent of  the  total  number  of  pupils. 

Nor  do  all  the  Christian  Reformed  churches 
support  these  schools  equally.  The  Dutch  speak- 
ing churches  and  the  people  of  more  recent  immi- 
gration were  until  recently  the  sole  supporters  of 
the  Christian  school.  So  largely  was  this  true 
that  these  schools  were  called  ''Dutch''  as  a  sort 
of  stigma.  Many  Christian  Reformed  people 
regarded  these  schools  as  un-American  and  re- 
fused to  send  their  children  to  these  schools. 
However,  the  Christian  school  has  steadily  won 
favor,  and  the  earlier  immigrants  and  the  younger 
generation  have  been  won  to  the  cause,  and  the 
Christian  school  is  now  quite  generally  supported 
by  all  Christian  Reformed  people.  The  number 
of  children  from  the  English  speaking  Reformed 
churches  attending  these  schools  has  steadily  in- 
creased until  now  the  people  of  these  churches 
are  almost  as  staunch  supporters  of  the  Christian 
school  as  the  people  from  the  Dutch  churches. 
This  has  tended  to  change  the  character  of  the 
Christian  school.     It  has  tended  to  change  them 

[44] 


from  mere  church  schools  into  free  schools,  and 
from  Dutch  to  American  schools. 

However,  this  change  in  the  character  of  these 
schools  has  not  taken  place  without  friction.  The 
more  recent  immigrants  and  the  older  generation 
insist  that  the  Dutch  language  shall  not  only  be 
taught  as  a  branch  of  study,  but  that  part  of  the 
instruction  shall  be  given  in  the  Dutch  language. 
These  people  want  to  use  the  schools  as  a  means 
of  keeping  alive  the  Dutch  language  in  this  coun- 
try. This  meets  with  the  bitterest  opposition  on 
the  part  of  the  younger  generation  and  the  more 
Americanized  people  who  want  to  remove  from 
the  schools  the  stigma  of  not  being  American.^ 
In  the  past  a  day  or  an  afternoon  a  week  was  set 
aside  in  which  all  instruction  was  given  in  the 
Dutch  language,  but  after  more  or  less  of  a 
struggle  the  advocates  of  the  Dutch  language 
lost,  and  in  most  schools  Dutch  survives  as  an 
optional  study. 

The  language  question  was  until  1924  a  bone 
of  contention  in  the  Ebenezer  school  (15th  and 
Ashland).  Since  this  community  receives  most 
of  the  immigrants  when  they  first  come  to  Chi- 
cago, the  demand  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
Dutch  in  this  school  is  especially  strong.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  school  society  October,  1923,  it 
was  decided  that  Friday  afternoon  would  be  given 


1.  Editorial,  The  Banner,  Vol.  57,  p.  565. 

[45] 


over  to  instruction  in  Dutch  for  the  children  of 
those  parents  desiring  it.  A  committee  of  the 
parents  whose  children  study  Dutch  will  regulate 
and  supervise  this  study.  It  was  only  after  this 
compromise  was  made  that  the  society  voted  ap- 
proval for  a  large  addition  to  the  school  building.^ 

The  majority  of  the  teachers  in  the  Christian 
schools  are  graduates  of  the  local  Christian  High 
school  and  Calvin  and  Hope  college.  The  prin- 
cipals of  these  schools  are  not  infrequently  grad- 
uates of  the  Christian  Normal  schools  in  the 
Netherlands  with  years  of  teaching  experience 
both  here  and  in  Europe.  The  demand  for  teach- 
ers for  Christian  schools  has  become  so  great 
that  Calvin  college,  a  college  of  the  Christian  Re- 
formed denomination,  has  established  a  normal 
department  with  the  distinct  purpose  of  training 
teachers  for  these  schools. 

The  teachers  of  the  Christian  schools  of  Chi- 
cago and  vicinity  are  organized  into  the  Chicago 
Christian  School  Teachers  Association.  Frequent 
meetings  are  held  at  which  problems  peculiar  to 
Christian  schools  are  discussed.  The  Chicago 
Christian  schools  are  members  of  the  National 
Union  of  Christian  schools  which  holds  an  annual 
meeting  in  Chicago  the  last  week  in  xA^ugust. 

That  the  Christian  primary  schools  fill  a  big 
place  in  the  life  of  the  Dutch  communities  can  be 
guessed.     The  people  who  support  them  feel  a 

1.  Onze  Toekomst,  October  3,  1923. 

[46] 


much  keener  sense  of  proprietorship  and  interest 
than  they  would  feel  in  the  public  schools.  The 
schools  are  generally  not  far  from  the  churches 
and  people  desiring-  a  Christian  education  for  their 
children  seek  to  live  near  the  school.  This  natur- 
ally tends  to  concentrate  the  people  around  the 
school  and  tends  to  hold  the  people  in  the  com- 
munity. It  also  creates  considerable  community 
life.  Besides  the  society  which  supports  the 
school,  there  are  Ladies'  Aid  Societies  attached 
to  the  schools  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  in- 
terest in  the  schools  as  well  as  for  financial  sup- 
port. Alumni  associations  keep  the  graduates  of 
these  schools  in  contact  with  each  other  and  pre- 
serve their  interest  in  the  schools. 

To  complete  their  educational  system  as  far  as 
their  means  permitted,  the  supporters  of  Chris- 
tian education  in  1918  established  the  Chicago 
Christian  High  school.  It  is  located  on  the  corner 
of  69th  and  May  streets,  near  the  heart  of  the 
Englewood  community.  From  a  modest  begin- 
ning it  has  grown  very  rapidly.  It  has  already 
a  property  evaluated  at  over  $50,000,  and  an 
enrollment  of  about  120  students,  a  faculty  of 
seven  members,  and  a  society  supporting  it  of 
some  800  members.  The  High  school  ofifers  a 
four  year  college  preparatory  course  and  a  two 
year  commercial  course.  The  school  is  now 
quartered  in  the  second  floor  of  a  business  block, 
but  funds  are  being  collected  for  a  new  building. 

[47] 


(The  Christian  High  school  is  supported  almost 
equally  by  the  Reformed  and  Christian  Reformed 
church  people.  Thq  reason  for  the  greater  sup- 
port of  the  Reformed  church  people  for  Christian 
secondary  education  than  for  primary  education 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  Reformed  church  people 
have  always  been  ardent  supporters  of  their  de- 
nominational colleges.  Students  that  have  spent 
four  years  in  the  public  high  schools  naturally 
drift  to  the  state  universities  and  colleges.  In 
order  to  direct  their  young  people  to  the  denomi- 
national college,  feeding  schools  are  highly  neces- 
sary and  the  Reformed  people  have  established 
such  academies  all  over  the  west.  To  more  fully 
set  forth  the  Christian  Reformed  view  it  may  be 
said  that  Christian  education,  whether  primary, 
secondary,  or  higher,  naturally  flows  from  their 
strongly  Calvinistic  theology.  Calvinism  they 
regard  as  a  life  and  world  view,  and  all  fields  of 
human  activity  must  be  captured  for  Christianity, 
specifically  Christian  principles  must  dominate 
life  in  all  its  ramifications.^  The  Christian  Re- 
formed church  came  strongly  under  the  influence 
of  the  neo-Calvinistic  movement  in  the  Nether- 
lands of  the  last  seventy  years  and  the  great  lead- 
ers of  the  movement  such  as  Dr.  Bavinck  and  Dr. 
Kuyper  have  influenced  the  theological  thinking 
of  the  church  in  a  remarkable  wav.    The  Chris- 


1.  See  especially  Kuyper,  Lectures  on  Calvinism, 

r48i 


tian  Reformed  people  hope  ultimately  to  establish 
a  Calvinistic  university. 

Certainly  the  Christian  High  school  does  much 
to  lead  the  young  people  to  the  denominational 
colleges.  The  teaching  staff  is  about  equally 
divided  between  graduates  o£  Calvin  college  and 
of  Hope  college,  thus  establishing  a  close  relation- 
ship between  the  high  school  and  the  denomina- 
tional colleges.  Practically  all  of  the  Chicago 
students  of  Hope  and  Calvin  are  graduates  of  the 
Chicago  Christian  High  school. 

Of  course,  by  no  means  all  of  the  children  of 
the  Dutch  in  Chicago  attending  high  school  are 
found  in  the  Christian  High  school.  The  Chris- 
tian High  school  probably  does  not  get  more  than 
a  fourth  of  them.  However,  the  Christian  High 
school  does  draw  its  enrollment  largely  from 
those  people  who  otherwise  would  not  send  their 
children  to  high  school.  The  religious  Dutchman 
is  afraid  that  his  children  will  lose  their  distinc- 
tive Christian  principles  if  they  attend  other 
schools.  The  Christian  High  school  has  greatly 
increased  the  number  of  those  going  on  for  a 
college  education.  The  Dutch  in  Chicago  have 
been  quite  backward  educationally  as  compared 
to  the  Dutch  in  Michigan  and  Iowa.  This  may 
largely  be  explained  from  the  fact  that  the  latter 
were  nearer  the  denominational  colleges.  But 
the  striking  fact  is  that  the  professional  men  in 
Chicago  colonies  come  almost  entirely  from  the 

[49] 


Dutch  communities  outside  of  Chicago.  At  pres- 
ent there  is  a  marked  increased  interest  in  higher 
education. 

Yet  from  the  Dutch  communities  of  Chicago 
have  come  some  leading  personahties  in  the  edu- 
cational and  professional  world.  President  Dim- 
nent  of  Hope  college  comes  from  the  West  Side 
colony.  George  David  Birkhoff,  professor  of 
mathematics  at  Harvard  University,  is  another 
product  of  the  Chicago  Dutch.  His  uncle  was 
for  years  the  Dutch  Consul-general  in  Chicago. 
Dr.  Cornelia  De  Bey  is  the  daughter  of  Rev.  De 
Bey  who  was  for  years  pastor  of  the  First  Re- 
formed church.  Chicago  has  also  contributed  its 
share  to  the  ministry  of  the  Reformed  and  Chris- 
tian Reformed  churches. 

Note.  Christian  education  has  always  been  a  peculiarly  dis- 
tinctive tenet  of  the  Reformed  faith.  Mention  of  it  can  be  found 
in  the  church  synods  from  the  beginning  to  the  present.  The  follow- 
ing is  found  in  the  Acts  of  the  Synod  of  Dordrech,  Session  XVII. : 
"Schools  in  which  the  young  shall  be  properly  instructed  in  the 
principles  of  Christian  doctrine  shall  be  instituted  not  only  in  cities 
but  also  in  towns  and  country  places  where  heretofore  none  have 
existed.  The  Christian  magistracy  shall  be  requested  that  well 
qualified  persons  may  be  enabled  to  devote  themselves  to  the  ser- 
vice, and  especially  that  the  children  of  the  poor  may  gratuitously 
be  instructed,  and  not  be  excluded  from  the  benefit  of  the  schools. 
In  this  office  none  shall  be  employed  but  such  as  are  members  of  the 
Reformed  church  having  certificates  of  an  upright  faith  and  pious 
life,  and  of  being  well  versed  in  the  truths  of  the  Catechism. 

"They  are  to  sign  a  document  professing  their  belief  in  the 
confession  of  faith  and  the  Heidelberg  catechism,  and  promising 
that  they  will  give  catechetical  instruction  to  the  young  in  the 
principles  of  Christian  truth  according  to  the  same.  The  school- 
masters shall  instruct  their  scholars  according  to  their  age  and 
capacity,  at  least  two  days  in  the  week,  not  only  by  causing  them 
to  commit  to  memory,  but  also  by  instilling  into  their  minds  an 
acquaintance  with  the  truths  of  the  catechism." 

[50] 


This  act  reflects  the  union  of  church  and  state.  As  the  schools 
and  the  church  in  Holland,  both  came  under  the  control  of  the 
state,  and  the  church  came  under  the  influence  of  rationalism,  the 
education  became  more  and  more  secular  as  time  went  on.  With 
the  religious  revival  in  the  last  century  the  demand  for  Christian 
education  again  became  an  issue. 

The  Dutch  system  of  Christian  education  was  brought  to  this 
country  by  the  early  Dutch  settlers  in  New  York.  The  school- 
master in  colonial  New  York  was  considered  as  important  as  the 
minister  and  shared  with  him  many  religious  duties,  reading  the 
Scriptures  in  the  church  services,  and  leading  in  the  singing  of 
the  psalms.  The  church  and  school  house  stood  side  by  side  and 
both  were  under  the  supervision  of  the  consistory.  In  course  of 
time  the  parochial  school  was  superseded  by  the  district  common 
school,  and  the  school  became  completely  secularized.  However, 
some  of  these  early  schools  remained  in  existence  for  a  long  time. 
The  school  established  by  the  collegiate  church  in  New  York  in 
1633  is  still  in  existence  and  is  attended  by  the  children  of  the 
grandees  of  New  York.  See  The  History  of  the  School,  written 
by  Henry  W.  Dunshee. 

The  Reformed  Church  has  made  unsuccessful  attempts  to  revive 
the  system  of  religious  education.  Such  an  attempt  was  made  by 
General  Synod  in  1809  and  again  in  1854.  Samuel  B.  Schieffelin 
of  the  Collegiate  Church  of  New  York  endowed  a  few  schools 
established  as  a  result  of  Synod's  action  in  1854.  But  the  ideal  of 
religious  education  is  now  as  good  as  extinct  in  the  eastern  wing 
of  the  Reformed  church. 


V.  POLITICS  AND  CIVIC  LIFE 

1  HE  Dutch  of  Chicago  are  RepubHcan  almost  to 
a  man.  jThe  percentage  of  the  Dutch  that  are 
RepubHcan  probably  runs  as  high  as  ninety  per 
cent/  The  exact  influences  that  swung  the  Dutch 
into  the  Republican  ranks  the  writer  has  not  been 
able  to  ascertain.  The  Dutch  of  Michigan  before 
the  Civil  War  were  Democratic.^    (See  Note  4,) 

1.  Much  of  this  information,  was  given  to  the  writer  by  Age 
Zylstra,  the  leading  poHtician  among  the  Dutch  in  Chicago  today. 
He  was  a  member  of  Mayor  Thompson's  cabinet. 

2.  Pieters,  A  Dutch  Settlement  in  Michigan,  Ch.  8. 


[51 


probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the  immigrants 
thought  the  Democratic  party  really  more  demo- 
cratic. Certainly  they  must  have  been  repelled  by 
the  nativist  platform  of  the  Know-nothing  party. 
But  the  Dutch  in  Michigan  are  now  also  Repub- 
licans. The  Dutch  colony  in  Iowa  was  Democratic 
from  the  beginning  and  remains  so  today,  in  spite 
of  heroic  efforts  of  its  leader,  Dr.  Scholte,  to 
swing  the  Hollanders  into  the  Republican  ranks 
during  the  Civil  War.^  Most  of  the  neighbors  of 
the  Dutch  in  Michigan  and  Chicago  were  Repub- 
lican and  this  may  have  had  a  great  influence  on 
the  political  life  of  the  Dutch,  but  undoubtedly 
the  ministers  in  the  Civil  War  took  a  decided 
stand  on  such  a  moral  issue  as  slavery,  and  may 
have  thus  been  instrumental  in  changing  the 
political  allegiance  of  the  Dutch.  The  little  colony 
of  Hollanders  in  Michigan  furnished  420  soldiers 
in  the  Civil  War, — one  soldier  for  every  ten  of  its 
population.  All  but  one  of  these  were  born  abroad. 

The  Dutch  in  Michigan,  due  probably  to  their 
larger  numbers,  played  a  greater  part  in  politics 
than  did  the  Dutch  in  Chicago  and  Illinois.  The 
only  section  in  which  they  were  concentrated  in 
great  enough  numbers  to  swing  a  large  racial 
vote  was  in  Roseland  and  the  South  Holland 
settlement.  But  even  the  small  Iowa  colony  as 
early  as  1859  sent  their  leader  to  the  State  Repub- 


1.  Vanderzee,  Hollanders  of  Iowa. 

[52] 


lican  convention,  and  from  this,  convention  Dr. 
Scholte  went  as  a  delegate  to  the  National  Re- 
publican convention  at  Chicago  which  nominated 
Lincoln  for  the  presidency. 

Going  through  the  biographical  sketches  of 
Roseland  in  Andreas'  History  of  Cook  County, 
published  in  1884,  one  discovers  that  some  of  the 
Dutchmen  whose  biographies  are  sketched  did 
engage  in  local  politics.  Cornelius  served  as  road 
commissioner  five  years,  as  school  director  for 
twenty-two  years,  and  as  constable  for  seven 
years.  Hiram  VanderBilt  served  as  Town  and 
Village  Tax  collector  and  Town  Trustee.  From 
these  biographical  sketches  it  would  seem  that  the 
Dutch  were  not  very  active  even  in  local  politics. 

In  latter  years  some  of  the  Hollanders  have 
attained  prominence  in  politics.  The  Dutch  were 
strong  supporters  of  Roosevelt  and  followed  him 
in  body  to  the  Progressive  Party.  Hiram  Van- 
derbilt,  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  old  Dutch 
families  of  Roseland,  ran  for  alderman  on  the 
Progressive  ticket  and  was  elected.  He  served 
two  terms.  Guy  Madderom,  also  a  descendant  of 
an  old  Dutch  Roseland  family,  sat  in  the  city 
council  from  1918  to  1922.  Cornelius  J.  Ton,  a 
lawyer  and  realty  operator,  was  a  member  of  the 
Illinois  legislature  from  1906  to  1910.  He  was 
very  active  ini  the  passage  of  measures  to  stop 
fraudulent  employment  agencies  and  introduced 
the  full  train  crew  and  sixteen  hour  train  service 

[53] 


bills.  He  also  served  on  the  Chicago  Charter 
conference  committee,  and  was  one  of  the  three 
who  organized  the  ''Band  of  Hope''  which  was 
instrumental  in  the  passage  of  the  plurality  prim- 
ary law. 

The  West  Side  colony  produced  several  people 
who  took  an  active  part  in  politics.  There  was 
first  of  all  John  Meyers,  who  for  a  short  time 
served  as  speaker  of  the  House.  Meyers  came 
from  the  parish  of  Rev.  De  Bey  in  the  Nether- 
lands, but  came  to  the  United  States  several 
years  before  the  De  Bey  family.  The  first  years 
after  his  arrival  in  this  country  he  spent  in  Minne- 
sota, but  upon  hearing  that  his  old  pastor  in  the 
Netherlands  had  come  to  this  country,  he  at  once 
came  to  Chicago.  From  that  time  on  he  was  prac- 
tically a  member  of  the  De  Bey  family.  Rev.  De 
Bey  employed  a  tutor  for  the  instruction  of  his 
children,  and  Meyers  shared  the  instruction  with 
them.  He  became  a  leader  of  the  Hollanders  in 
Chicago  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Hol- 
land Building  and  Loan  Association  which  is  to- 
day doing  a  large  and  successful  business.  Meyers 
was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  of  the  Illinois 
Legislature  from  1886  to  1890.  He  was  elected 
again  in  1894,  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  House, 
but  died  soon  after  the  opening  of  the  first  session. 

John  Bos,  who  also  spent  most  of  his  early  life 
in  the  West  Side  community,  was  for  several 
years  the  representative  of  the  old  eleventh  ward 

[54] 


in  the  city  council.  But  a  far  more  interesting 
personality  in  the  political  and  civil  life  of  the 
city  than  any  of  the  above,  is  Dr.  Cornelia  B.  De 
Bey.  Dr.  De  Bey  was  the  youngest  daughter  of 
Rev.  De  Bey  and  came  to  this  country  with  her 
parents  when  she  was  three  years  old.  She  was 
graduated  from  the  Cook  County  Normal  school 
in  1889,  and  later  attended  the  Chicago  Art  In- 
stitute and  Northwestern  University.  In  1895 
she  received  the  M.  D.  degree  from  the  Hahne- 
mann Medical  college.  She  has  always  been 
deeply  interested  in  work  among  the  poor  and 
has  done  much  to  relieve  distress  by  her  own  per- 
sonal efforts. 

Her  political  career  began  early  in  life. 
Through  Representative  Meyers,  who  had  been 
practically  a  member  of  her  family,  she  secured 
the  passage  of  the  bill  legalizing  kindergartens  as 
part  of  the  public  schools  in  1890.  Those  inter- 
ested in  the  bill  had  almost  given  up  hope  of  the 
passage  of  the  bill  that  session  until  Dr.  De  Bey 
interested  herself  in  its  passage,  and  secured  its 
enactment  into  law  in  a  very  short  time  through 
the  influence  she  had  with  Rep.  Meyers.  She  led 
the  fight  which  defeated  the  bill  which  sought  to 
make  married  women  eligible  as  teachers  in  public 
schools.  She  was  also  largely  instrumental  in  the 
enactment  of  the  first  Child  Labor  Law  in  the 
state  of  Illinois,  in  1903. 

Dr.  De  Bey's  next  great  victory  in  her  fight  for 
[55] 


social  betterment  was  the  settlement  of  the  Stock- 
yards strike  in  1894.  How  she  was  able  to  bring 
the  opposing  factions  together  has  always  been  a 
mystery,  but  within  a  week  and  single  handed, 
she  brought  an  end  to  the  strike  that  was  causing 
much  suffering  to  the  laboring  people/ 

Dr.  De  Bey's  greatest  work  was  done  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Education  from  1905 
to  1908.  Here  she  waged  many  a  hard  fight  and 
spectacular  battle  for  a  better  public  school  sys- 
tem. She  led  the  fight  in  the  appointment  of  Mrs. 
Ella  Flagg  Young  as  Superintendent  of  the  Chi- 
cago School  system,  was  successful  in  throwing 
the  American  Book  Company  out  of  the  schools 
system,  and  encouraged  the  Chicago  School  teach- 
ers to  organize  and  join  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor. 

She  is  also  the  author  of  the  De  Bey  system 
which  became  generally  known  as  the  Young 
system  and  which  at  the  time  was  regarded  as  a 
revolution  of  the  Chicago  school  system.  The 
proposal  of  Dr.  De  Bey  raised  a  tumult  at  the  time 
but  since  has  been  almost  universally  adopted. 
The  purpose  of  the  plan  was  to  place  the  school 
system  on  a  business-like  but  democratic  basis. 
The  main  features  of  the  plan  are  the  redivision 
of  the  city  into  districts  each  containing  from  ten 
to  tw  enty  schools ;  the  organization  of  all  the  prin- 


1.  Sunday  Record-Herald,   September   11,   1904. 

[56] 


cipals  and  teachers  in  each  district;  these  organ- 
ized bodies  to  act  in  a  supervisory  capacity  in  the 
direction  of  the  educational  affairs  of  the  district; 
the  nomination  of  principals  by  the  district  organ- 
ization of  principals  and  teachers;  the  abolition 
of  the  board  of  district  superintendents  and  the 
substitution  of  teachers,  chosen  by  the  organized 
principals  of  the  district,  to  serve  as  critics. 

Frederick  De  Young,  member  of  the  upper 
house  of  the  state  legislature  for  several  terms, 
member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  a  judge 
in  the  Circuit  Court  of  Cook  County,  and  now 
judge  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  was  born 
and  raised  in  the  South  Holland  settlement. 

The  leading  politician  in  the  Roseland  com- 
munity today  is  Age  Zylstra.  Though  he  has  not 
held  many  elective  offices,  he  has  held  many  ap- 
pointive positions  in  the  city  and  county  govern- 
ment. Mr.  Zylstra  controls  more  Dutch  votes 
than  any  other  politician,  and  he  has  been  the  only 
person  that  has  been  really  successful  in  keeping 
a  large  personal  following,  for  the  Dutch  are  a 
very  independent  people  and  are  not  easily  con- 
trolled by  anybody.  An  incident  illustrating  this 
loyalty  of  the  Dutch  to  Mr.  Zylstra  occurred  in 
the  days  when  nominations  were  still  made  by 
conventions.  Mr.  Zylstra  was  a  candidate  for  the 
Republican  nomination  for  alderman  from  the 
ninth  ward.  He  entered  the  ward  convention 
with  fifteen  out  of  thirty-one  delegates  pledged 

[57] 


to  him.  The  remaining  sixteen;  delegates  were 
divided  between  two  other  candidates  for  the 
nomination.  Cornehus  J.  Tton  manuevered  in 
such  a  way  as  to  get  one  of  the  two  minor  candi- 
dates to  withdraw  and  throw  his  vote  to  the  other, 
and  bring  about  his  nomination.  The  Dutch  fol- 
lowers of  Mr.  Zylstra  felt  that  their  candidate 
had  been  cheated  out  of  a  nomination  that  was 
rightfully  his.  They  were  so  outraged  that  they 
threatened  Ton  with  injury.  Ton  had  to  be  es- 
corted home  by  the  police.  They  carried  their 
injury  to  the  polls.  The  Dutch  in  that  election 
threw  their  vote  to  the  Democratic  candidate,  Mr. 
Block,  with  the  result  that  for  the  first  time  in 
many  years  a  Democrat  sat  in  the  council  from 
this  Republican  ward. 

Mr.  Zylstra  was  for  three  years  City  Collector 
and  a  member  of  Mayor  Thompson's  cabinet.  As 
a  committeeman  from  the  ninth  ward  he  was 
largely  responsible  for  the  large  majority  returned 
by  that  ward  for  Lueder  in  the  mayorality  cam- 
paign of  1923.  Mr.  Zylstra  was  head  of  the  Mc- 
Cormick-Essington-Brundage  headquarters  of 
the  ninth  ward. 

The  Dutch  do  not  receive  their  pro-rata  share 
of  candidates  for  city  or  county  offices  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  are  not  organized  politically  and 
that  it  is  generally  difficult  to  swing  their  vote  as 
a  racial  group.  When  the  county  or  city  slate  is 
made  up  an  attempt  is  made  to  satisfy  every  racial 

[58] 


and  religious  group  in  order  to  draw  as  many 
votes  as  possible.  In  the  preparation  of  this  slate 
the  Dutch  are  usually  ignored  because  they  are  so 
unorganized  politically.  The  reason  the  Dutch 
are  so  hard  to  organize  is  that  they  are  jealous  of 
each  other.  One  Hollander  who  had  dabbled  a 
bit  in  local  politics  complained  bitterly  of  this  at- 
titude. Said  he,  ''When  a  Hollander  runs  for 
office,  the  other  Hollanders  say,  'He  is  nothing 
but  a  Dutchman,  let  him  go  out  and  work  for  his 
living  as  the  rest  of  us  do.  He  is  not  too  good  to 
work,'  and  they  go  to  the  polls  to  vote  for  some 
good  for  nothing  Irish  politician.^'  An  attempt 
was  once  made  to  organize  all  the  Dutch  in  the 
country  in  one  large  political  organization,  but 
the  organization  did  not  live  beyond  two  or  three 
stormy  meetings.  So  also  a  political  organization 
started  on  the  West  Side  lasted  only  about  one 
season. 

The  Catholics  and  the  non-church  group  are 
different  politically  than  the  Reformed  church 
people.  The  spirit  of  trade  unionism  is  very 
strong  with  them,  and  many  of  them  are  socialists. 
Among  the  non-church  group  there  are  some  very 
extreme  radicals.  They  have  at  times  aggressive- 
ly carried  their  radical  propaganda  into  the  circles 
of  the  church  people.  In  1911  Rev.  Wm.  Stuart, 
then  pastor  of  the  Third  Christian  Reformed 
church  of  Roseland,  made  a  speech  in  the  First 
Christian  Reformed  church  before  a  mass  meet- 

[59] 


ing  of  the  Young  People's  Alliance  on  the  subject 
of  Christian  Socialism.  A  group  of  the  radical 
Hollanders  attended  the  meeting  in  a  body  and 
after  Rev.  Stuart  had  got  well  along  with  his 
speech  they  began  to  sing  the  ''International.''  A 
fight  ensued  in  which  the  radicals  were  thrown 
out  of  the  church  bodily.  The  leader  of  the  radical 
group,  L.  Boersma,  wrote  a  pamphlet  in  reply  to 
Rev.  Stuart's  speech  and  distributed  it  among  the 
church  people.  The  radical  Dutch  people  are  of 
the  more  recent  immigration,  and  come  from  the 
large  Dutch  cities  whereas  the  earlier  Dutch  im- 
migrants came  mostly  from  the  country  districts. 
The  radical  movement  in  the  large  Dutch  cities 
has  become  very  strong  in  the  last  couple  of  dec- 
ades, and  these  people  have  carried  their  political 
ideas  with  them  to  this  countrv.  It  is  an  outstand- 
ing  fact  that  the  Dutch  of  the  newer  immigration 
are  much  more  liberal  in  their  political  and  eco- 
nomic ideas  than  are  the  Dutch  of  earlier  immi- 
grations. This  can  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact 
that  politics  in  that  country  are  in  advance  of 
politics  in  this  country  due  to  the  more  strained 
circumstances  of  the  mass  of  people  there. 


60] 


VI.   JOURNALISM 

O  NE  of  the  forces  tending  to  preserve  the  group 
consciousness  of  the  Dutch  is  their  journaHstic 
enterprises.  Old  Dutch  settlers  in  Chicago  speak 
of  a  Dutch  paper  printed  in  the  Tribune  plant 
during  the  Civil  War.  According  to  these  the 
paper  was  edited  by  a  certain  Judge  Entwout  (In't 
Woud?),  and  that  the  paper  was  put  out  largely 
for  political  reasons ;  that  is,  in  order  to  win  the 
Dutch  for  the  Republican  party  as  well  as  secur- 
ing their  whole-hearted  aid  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  war.  The  writer  has  not  been  able  to  find  a 
single  trace  of  the  paper.  If  the  paper  existed,  all 
trace  has  been  lost  except  in  the  memories  of  the 
very  oldest  living  settlers. 

It  also  seems  that  there  was  at  one  time  a  writer 
on  the  Inter-Ocean  who  was  a  Hollander,  and 
translated  certain  articles  into  Dutch.  (See  Note 
5.  j  Mr.  Herman  Teninga  told  the  writer  he  had  a 
copy  of  a  Dutch  edition  put  out  by  the  Times- 
Herald,  John  Van  Benthuyzen,  a  Hollander  by 
birth,  was  for  many  years  managing  editor  of 
the  Tribune,  and  later  went  to  The  New  York 
World, 

In  the  winter  of  1921  appeared  The  Daily 
Standard,  This  was  to  be  a  Christian  daily  paper, 
with  a  national  appeal.  The  moving  spirit  behind 
it  was  Rev.  J.  Clover  Monsma,  a  young  Christian 
Reformed  minister,  who  in  his  college  days  had 

[61] 


served  as  a  ''cub''  reporter  on  a  paper  in  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan.  Monsma  resigned  his  pastor- 
ate of  the  Archer  Avenue  Christian  Reformed 
church  to  build  up  an  organization  and  promote 
the  enterprise.  Large  amounts  of  stock  were  sold, 
mostly  to  Dutch  church  people,  although  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  make  a  general  appeal  to  the 
churches.  A  large  plant  was  equipped  on  Ohio 
street  and  soon  the  first  edition  appeared.  The 
paper  compared  well  with  the  other  cosmopolitan 
papers,  but  the  original  costs  had  not  been  care- 
fullv  calculated,  nor  the  amount  of  losses  that 
would  first  have  to  be  borne  before  the  enterprise 
could  be  made  a  paying  one.  The  Daily  Standard 
appeared  about  a  month  or  two  and  then  suddenly 
collapsed.  The  losses  of  some  of  the  Dutch  people 
who  had  bought  its  stock,  ran  into  thousands  of 
dollars. 

Rev.  Monsma  is  now  editing  and  publishing  the 
Minister's  Monthly,  a  magazine  exclusively  of 
interest  to  ministers. 

For  the  last  forty  years  there  has  been  a  Dutch 
newspaper  in  Chicago.  It  first  appeared  as  De 
Nederlander  in  the  early  eighties,  and  was  edited 
by  Henry  Uden  Massman,  a  man  of  excellent 
education  and  a  writer  of  ability.  Massman  came 
to  this  country  in  the  hope  of  rehabilitating  his 
fortune.  His  editorials  and  literary  articles  are 
still  remembered  by  the  older  people  as  the  acme 
of  journalistic  writings. 

[62] 


In  1893  it  was  taken  over  by  the  Young  Peoples 
Union  of  the  Reformed  and  Christian  Reformed 
churches  and  pubHshed  as  their  organization 
organ.  The  name  was  changed  to  Onze  Toekomst 
(Our  Future).  (See  Note  6J  The  editors  were 
A.  Raap  and  H.  Jacobsma,  the  principals  of  the 
two  Christian  schools  of  Roseland.  In  1898  it 
was  again  reorganized  by  Massman  and  pub- 
lished by  him  until  1906;  from  1906  to  1917  it  was 
published  and  edited  by  Mr.  L.  Holstein,  who  is 
now  in  the  real  estate  business  in  Englewood.  In 
1917  it  was  again  reorganized  and  taken  over  by 
a  stock  company,  the  Christian  Literature  Pub- 
lishing Company,  and  is  now  published  by  them. 

The  headquarters  of  On^e  Toekomst  are  at 
1315  So.  Ashland  Avenue,  in  the  heart  of  the 
West  side  Dutch  community.  On^e  Toekomst  at 
present  has  over  3,500  subscribers,  1,200  of  which 
live  in  Chicago,  800  in  Iowa,  and  300  in  Grand 
Rapids.  The  remaining  readers  are  scattered 
over  the  Western  states.  The  reason  that  the 
paper  has  no  more  readers  in  Michigan  is  that 
there  it  has  to  compete  with  De  Grondzvet,  pub- 
lished in  Holland,  Michigan,  a  Dutch  paper 
founded  in  1860  and  with  a  country  wide  circula- 
tion. The  editor  of  Oit^e  Toekomst  is  Dr.  John 
Van  Lonkhuyzen,  pastor  of  the  First  Christian 
Reformed  church  of  Chicago.  Dr.  Van  Lonkhuy- 
zen received  his  education  in  Holland  and  writes 
in  a  very  interesting  and  pithy  Dutch  style.   The 

[63] 


paper  is  exclusively  Dutch.  Though  it  has  no 
official  connection  with  the  church,  Onze  Toe- 
komst  is  strongly  religious  and  ecclesiastical. 
There  is  a  Sunday  school  department,  there  are 
meditations,  articles  on  theological  subjects,  news 
items  from  the  different  Dutch  settlements,  and 
an  especial  feature  are  the  weekly  letters  com- 
menting on  events  in  the  Netherlands.  On^e 
Toekomst  also  carries  a  supplement,  ''Het  West- 
en,''  which  is  edited  from  Orange  City,  Iowa. 

A  very  interesting  feature  of  the  paper  is  the 
advertisements.  Professional  men  of  Dutch  de- 
scent all  seem  very  eager  to  have  their  name 
brought  before  the  Dutch  readers,  for  their  ad- 
vertisements fill  several  columns.  Also  there  are 
advertised  Dutch  articles  such  as  Dutch  rye 
bread,  cocoa,  cheese,  etc. 

Onze  Toekomst  collects  great  sums  of  money 
for  charitable  purposes.  It  has  collected  over 
$50,000  in  the  last  few  years  for  the  Hungarian 
and  German  children.  In  the  summer  of  1923,  a 
young  Dutch  couple  with  a  baby  arrived  in  Chi- 
cago and  made  the  Helping  Hand  Mission  their 
home  until  they  could  establish  themselves.  The 
young  husband  was  killed  on  the  way  to  his  first 
day's  work  by  an  automobile  as  he  stepped  off  the 
street  car.  A  fund  of  about  $400  was  collected 
for  the  widow  and  child  in  a  few  weeks  by  Onze 
Toekomst,    Incidents  like  this  occur  right  along. 


[64 


VII.     SOCIETIES  AND  ORGANIZATIONS 

A  MOST  unusual  and  interesting  development 
among  the  Dutch  is  the  number  of  societies  organ- 
ized to  provide  burial  and  sick  funds.  There  are 
five  of  these  societies  and  all  are  doing  a  flourish- 
ing business.  Their  origin  is  differently  accounted 
for.  The  oldest  society,  Zelf  Hulp  (Self-help) 
was  organized  in,  1879.  The  story  goes  that  in 
the  early  days  many  a  collection  was  taken  up 
among  the  Dutch  in  order  to  prevent  a  fellow 
Dutchman  from  being  buried  in  the  potters  field. 
One  man  finally  suggested  that  a  permanent  fund 
be  started  by  a  small  weekly  contribution.  This 
developed  into  a  regularly  organized  society  do- 
ing business  on  an  actuarial  basis. 

The  origin  of  the  Roseland  society  seems  to 
have  been  in  a  less  altruistic  motive.  The  man 
who  founded  this  society,  the  Roseland  Mutual 
Aid  Society,  was  Sander  Van  Wyngaarden,  the 
village  undertaker  and  furniture  man.  It  often 
happened  that  people  died  leaving  funds  insuf- 
ficient to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  fairly  respec- 
table burial.  The  undertaker  stood  the  loss.  Van 
Wyngaarden  organized  this  society  to  insure  for 
the  burials.  For  twenty-five  years  he  was  its 
president. 

There  are,  however,  two  general  reasons  suf- 
ficient to  account  for  these  societies  and  their 
unusual  growth.     One  reason  is  that  the  Dutch 

[65] 


seldom  belong  to  lodges  or  to  labor  unions,  and 
thus  cannot  partake  of  their  death  benefits.  The 
second  reason  is  that  the  Dutch  of  the  first  and 
second  generation  were  opposed  to  insurance.  In- 
surance to  them  was  a  failure  to  trust  in  God's 
providence,  and  an  attempt  to  avoid  His  dis- 
pleasure when  He  sought  to  visit  a  person  with 
tribulations.  That  a  mutual  benefit  society  in 
no  way  differed  from  insurance  probably  never 
occurred  to  them.  However,  the  Dutch  still  seem 
to  take  a  very  active  interest  in  these  societies 
and  many  are  enrolled  in  the  membership  of  the 
several  now  existant. 

Zelf  Hulp,  founded  in  1879,  has  over  18,000 
members  and  a  reserve  fund  of  over  $75,000. 
I.  Emmering  is  secretary  and  the  offices  are  in 
the  Oxford  building.  The  Society  has  only  burial 
funds. 

The  Roseland  Mutual  Aid  Society,  founded  in 
1884,  has  a  membership  of  8,000  and  a  reserve 
fund  of  $52,000.  Fred  Vos  is  president;  A. 
Blystra,  secretary;  and  G.  Smit,  treasurer. 

Vriendschap  en  Trouw  (Friendship  and 
Trust),  having  headquarters  at  67th  and  May 
Streets,  has  sick  and  death  benefits  and  also  en- 
gages in  social  activities  such  as  boat  excursions, 
entertainments,  and  band  concerts. 

Hulp  in  Nood  (Help  in  Need),  meeting  every 
third  week  at  18th  and  Laflin  streets,  has  sick 
and  death  benefits. 

[66] 


Excelsior,  a  west  side  organization  of  350 
members  has  sick  benefits.  N.  Van  Zeewijk  is 
the  president. 

Eendracht  Maakt  Macht  (In  Unity  There  is 
Strength)  having  a  downtown  branch  and  a  Rose- 
land  branch,  started  in  a  social  way  and  later 
started  sick  and  death  benefits. 

The  Old  People's  Home,  located  at  Wentworth 
and  106th  streets,  houses  seventeen  old  people 
and  is  supported  by  the  churches  and  general 
gifts. 

Holland  Building  and  Loan  Association,  organ- 
ized in  1881  by  Rev.  De  Bey  and  John  Meyers, 
had  loans  in  force  June,  1923,  amounting  to  $314,- 
900.    Herman  Vanderploeg  is  secretary. 

Roseland  Home  Building  Association,  of  which 
Herman  Teninga  is  secretary,  has  loans  in  force 
amounting  to  $1,076,148. 

The  Dutch  do  not  take  to  apartments,  still  less 
to  tenements.  One  reason  they  have  not  become 
apartment  dwellers  no  doubt  is  that  they  gener- 
ally have  large  families;  and  another  reason  is 
that  they  are  very  thrifty  and  very  soon  after 
marriage  the  young  couple  buys  a  home.  The 
Holland  Building  and  Loan  Association  has 
never  lost  a  dollar  on  any  of  its  loans.  Most  of 
the  Dutch,  too,  come  from  the  country  districts 
of  Holland  and  are  fond  of  a  grass  plot  and  a 
garden  of  their  own.     Where  two  families  live 

[67] 


in  a  house  they  are  usually  related  as  brothers  and 
sisters  or  as  parents  and  children. 

Holland  Abroad  is  a  society  to  keep  the  Hol- 
landers in  different  countries  in  contact  with  each 
other  and  with  the  mother  country.  Mr.  A.  Oos- 
terheerdt  is  its  representative  in  Chicago.  Re- 
cently a  film  ''Nederland''  was  shown  in  several 
of  the  churches  and  in  the  City  Club  by  Mr.  Oos- 
terheerdt  as  representative  of  the  society.  In  this 
manner  a  lively  interest  is  maintained  in  what  is 
going  on  in  the  old  fatherland. 

Besides  the  organizations  enumerated  there 
are  several  whose  purposes  are  largely  social. 
These  are  numerous  but  rather  sporadic  and  are 
for  the  most  part  made  up  of  the  non-church  group 
or  of  those  people  who  have  left  the  Dutch  com- 
munities, or  those  who  have  never  lived  in  the 
Dutch  communities  but  still  have  a  keen  interest 
in  things  Dutch,  and  wish  to  keep  up  some  of  their 
Dutch  associations. 

Eendracht  Maakt  Macht  is  an  example  of  such 
an  organization  composed  largely  of  the  non- 
church  group.  The  members  belonging  to  the 
downtown  branch  are  scattered  pretty  much  over 
the  west  and  northwest  side  of  town.  They  have 
frequent  social  meetings  with  dances  and  card 
playing.  As  was  noted  before,  there  is  also  a 
branch  of  this  society  in  Roseland. 

Het  Algemeen  Nederlandsch  Verbond  has  for 
its  main  purpose  the  perpetuation  of  Dutch  cul- 

[68] 


ture,  language,  history,  and  art,  and  has  two 
branches:  a  Roseland  branch  and  a  downtown 
branch.  The  downtown  society  has  not  met  for 
several  years  and  is  practically  dead,  but  it  has 
never  officially  been  dissolved.  The  Roseland 
branch  has  developed  largely  into  a  society  most 
of  whose  activities  are  social.  It  is  building  a 
new  hall  on  111th  street  near  Princeton  avenue. 
It  flourishes  largely  as  the  center  of  the  social 
life  of  the  non-church  Dutch  group  and  does 
much  to  foster  the  Dutch  consciousness  of  these 
people. 

Graduates  and  former  students  of  Calvin  Col- 
lege, of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  the  college  of 
the  Christian  Reformed  church,  organized  the 
Calvin  College  Club  in  1922.  Monthly  luncheons 
were  held  to  bring  them  together  for  a  social 
meeting.  The  Club  has  about  twenty-five  mem- 
bers scattered  over  the  city. 

Hope  College  Club  is  a  similar  organization 
made  up  of  graduates  and  former  students  of 
Hope  College,  Holland,  Michigan,  the  college  of 
the  Reformed  denomination.  It  was  organized 
in  1923  and  has  some  twenty-nine  members. 

Modelled  after  the  Holland  and  Knickerbocker 
societies  of  New  York,  there  has  been  a  succes- 
sion of  societies  in  Chicago  whose  aim  has  been 
to  keep  alive  in  people  of  Dutch  stock  a  conscious- 
ness of  their  Dutch  ancestry.  These  societies 
have  included  in  their  membership  those  who  are 

[69] 


still  leaders  in  the  Dutch  communities  but  just  as 
often  those  who  had  merely  Dutch  names.  With 
some  of  the  members  it  was  merely  a  fad,  on  the 
part  of  others  a  real  appreciation  of  Dutch  tradi- 
tion. Its  membership  included  the  most  prom- 
inent men  in  the  Dutch  communities  and  some 
men  who  were  prominent  in  the  life  of  the  city. 

The  first  society  of  this  nature  to  be  organized 
was  the  Holland  Society  which  had  a  life  of 
about  five  years  in  the  middle  of  the  nineties.  One 
of  the  leading  spirits  was  Van  Benthuyzen,  the 
managing  editor  of  the  Tribune,  This  society 
seemed  zealous  to  surpass  even  the  Holland  So- 
ciety of  New  York,  for  its  banquets  were  noted 
for  their  splendor  and  conviviality.  The  society 
was  looked  upon  by  the  average  Hollander  as  a 
blue  stocking  aflfair,  and  did  not  capture  his  in- 
terest. 

The  Holland  Society  was  succeeded  by  the  St. 
Nicholas  Society.  This  was  probably  a  less  pre- 
tentious organization  than  its  predecessor,  but 
its  life  was  precarious  even  for  the  few  years  of 
its  existence. 

In  the  winter  of  1924  the  old  project  was  re- 
vived. Twenty-two  men,  the  guests  of  Vice- 
Consul  F.  Posthuma  at  a  dinner  at  the  Illinois 
Athletic  Club,  organized  the  Knickerbocker  So- 
ciety of  Chicago.  At  present  the  Society  numbers 
about  thirty-five  members  and  the  first  annual 
banquet  will  be  given  at  the  City  Club  on  April 

[70] 


25,  1924.  On  the  program  will  appear  Mr.  Gel- 
mer  Kuiper  as  toastmaster,  and  Consul  General 
Vennema  and  Secretary  J.  VanderVries  of  the 
United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce  as  the  main 
speakers.  Gelmer  Kuiper  is  president  of  the 
Knickerbocker  Society  and  Dr.  J.  H.  Hospers  is 
the  secretary. 

The  Dutch  are  very  strongly  race  conscious. 
No  better  illustration  of  that  can  be  found  than 
in  the  movement  which  led  to  the  establishment 
of  a  chair  of  Dutch  history,  literature  and  art  at 
the  University  of  Chicago.  Inspired  no  doubt  by 
the  success  of  the  movement  which  led  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Queen  Wilhelmina  chair  at 
Columbia  University,  certain  Holland  American 
leaders  in  Chicago  started  a  similar  movement. 
Leaders  in  the  movement  seem  to  have  been  Con- 
sul General  Birkhoff,  Rev.  Breen,  A.  Ooster- 
heerdt,  H.  Jacobsma,  and  L.  Holstein.  The  move- 
ment seems  also  to  have  gone  out  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Algemeen  Nederlandsch  Verbond. 

The  University  Council  was  petitioned  to  es- 
tablish such  a  chair  under  the  following  arrange- 
ment. The  Dutch  in  Chicago  would  finance  the 
professorship  for  the  first  few  years,  and  if  the 
venture  proved  successful  in  an  academic  way, 
the  University  would  then  assume  full  respon- 
sibility for  it. 

Dr.  Tiemen  De  Vries,  a  graduate  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Amsterdam,  was   chosen   to   fill  the 

[71] 


chair,  and  assumed  his  new  duties  in  the  fall 
quarter  of  1911.  For  three  years  Dr.  De  Vries 
gave  lectures  on  Dutch  history,  literature  and 
art  on  this  foundation.  His  inaugural  lecture 
was  given  in  October,  1911,  on  the  subject,  ''The 
Influence  of  the  Nations  of  Europe,  Especially 
the  Netherlands,  on  the  Character,  the  Institu- 
tions, and  the  Development  of  the  American  Na- 
tion." The  lecture  was  subsequently  published 
by  Eerdmans  -  Sevensma  Company  of  Grand 
Rapids.  The  lecture  set  forth  some  rather  ex- 
orbitant claims  for  the  Dutch  influence  on  Amer- 
ican institutions,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of 
Douglas  Campbell. 

Dr.  De  Vries  in  1912  published  some  of  his 
lectures  given  in  his  courses  at  the  University 
under  the  title  of  ''Dutch  History,  Art  and  Liter- 
ature for  Americans.''  In  the  lecture  on  Wash- 
ington Irving  and  the  Dutch  people  of  New  York 
Dr.  De  Vries  attempted  to  prove  that  the  Rip  Van 
Winkle  story  was  plagiarized  from  Erasmus' 
Epimenides  and  the  Scots.  In  1916  Dr.  De  Vries 
published  another  book  under  the  title  of  "Hol- 
land's Influence  on  English  Language  and  Liter- 
ature." 

The  University  officials  did  not  think  the  pro- 
fessorship had  been  sufficiently  a  success  to  war- 
rant its  continuance  at  the  university  expense, 
and  the  professorship  was  discontinued.  An 
attempt  was  then  made  to  have  a  similar  chair 

[72] 


established  at  the  University  of  lUinois,  but  this 
did  not  meet  with  success. 

September,  1923,  marked  the  twenty-fifth  an- 
niversary of  the  reign  of  Queen  Wilhelmina  of 
the  Netherlands.  The  House  of  Orange,  with  few 
exceptions,  has  been  very  popular  with  the  Dutch 
people.  Dutch  history  has  been  so  closely  linked 
up  with  this  illustrious  family  that  its  members 
have  come  to  represent  the  national  glory  in  an 
objective  manner.  On  the  Queen's  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  a  celebration  was  held  in  Holland, 
and  many  Holland  American  leaders  thought  it 
the  proper  occasion  for  some  token  of  respect  and 
esteem  from  the  Dutch  people  in  this  country. 

A  committee  was  organized  to  determine  what 
the  nature  of  this  action  should  be.  The  officers 
of  the  Committee  were :  Dr.  J.  Van  Lonkhuyzen, 
president;  James  H.  Rook,  vice-president;  Dr. 
Henry  Beets,  mission  secretary  of  the  Christian 
Reformed  Church,  secretary;  James  J.  Van  Per- 
nis,  managing  editor  of  Onze  Toekomst,  acting 
secretary;  and  Ralph  Van  Vechten,  vice-president 
of  the  Continental  and  Commercial  National 
Bank,  treasurer.  Prominent  members  of  the  com- 
mittee were:  George  B.  Cortelyou,  ex-secretary 
of  the  treasury;  Theodore  Roosevelt,  assistant 
secretary  of  the  navy;  Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke  of 
Princeton;  the  Rt.  Rev.  Archbishop  Cornelius 
Vander  Ven  of  Lousiana;  Prof.  F.  C.  L.  Van 
Steenderen  of  Lake  Forest  College;  Dr.  Samuel 

[73] 


L.  Zwemer,  missionary;  and  Prof.  A.  J.  Barnouw 
of  Columbia  University. 

A  beautiful  Album  was  prepared  by  the  com- 
mittee and  presented  to  the  Queen  at  the  time  of 
the  Jubilee  Celebration  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
Album  contains  a  dedicatory  article  by  Dr.  Van 
Lonkhuyzen  of  Chicago,  an  article  on  ''The  Hol- 
landers of  North  America/'  by  Dr.  Henry  Beets; 
an  article  on  ''The  Reformed  Church  in  North 
America,"  by  Prof.  S.  C.  Nettinga  of  Western 
Seminary  of  Holland,  Michigan;  an  article  on 
"The  Christian  Reformed  Church  of  America," 
by  Prof.  S.  Volbeda  of  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan;  an  article  on  "The 
Dutch  Roman  Catholics  in  the  United  States," 
by  Father  Van  Heertum  of  Roseland ;  an  article 
on  "The  Dutch  Press  in  America,"  by  Mr.  A.  Oos- 
terheerdt  of  Chicago ;  an  article  on  "The  Nether- 
lands Colonists  of  1847  and  Education,"  by  Pres- 
ident Dimnent  of  Hope  College ;  and  an  article  on 
"The  Educational  Institutions  of  the  Christian 
Reformed  Church,"  by  Prof.  H.  J.  G.  Van  Andel, 
of  Calvin  College. 

The  Album  was  a  product  of  no  little  artistic 
merit,  due  largely  to  the  unsparing  efforts  of  Mr. 
James  H.  Rook.  Artists  of  note  and  from  the 
Chicago  Art  Institute  engrossed  the  pages.  A 
beautiful  walnut  and  mahogany  hand  carved  case 
for  the  Album  was  made  by  skilled  cabinet  makers 
from  the  Scholle  Furniture  Company. 

[74] 


VIIL     OCCUPATIONAL  SELECTION 

Since  most  of  the  Dutch  immigrants  come  from 
the  country  districts  of  the  Netherlands,  many 
seek  the  country  when  they  come  to  this  country. 
As  was  noted  before,  a  large  number  of  the  Dutch 
in  the  suburbs  and  in  South  Holland  and  the 
Highlands-Lansing  settlement,  are  truck  farmers. 
Many  of  the  people  in  Roseland  are  employed  at 
the  Pullman  Works  and  some  at  the  Weber 
Wagon  Works.  Many  also  are  engaged  in  small 
businesses  such  as  grocery  stores  and  meat  mar- 
kets. The  younger  people  work  downtown  in 
offices  and  stores,  and  a  very  large  percentage  are 
employed  as  truck  drivers.  The  building  trades 
also  draw  a  large  number  of  the  Dutch  laborers. 

A  most  interesting  settlement  from  an  occupa- 
tional point  of  view  is  the  Ashland-Fourteenth 
settlement.  The  settlers  of  this  community  come 
from  the  province  of  Groningen  where  most  of 
them  were  farm  laborers.  These  people  naturally 
took  to  teaming.  They  loved  to  work  with  horses 
and  to  be  their  own  masters.  Because  of  their 
close  proximity  to  the  loop  they  drifted  into  gar- 
bage collecting  and  today  practically  all  the  gar- 
bage collecting  of  the  loop  is  done  by  the  Dutch 
of  this  colony.  Most  of  their  work  is  done  at 
night.  In  every  backyard  can  be  found  a  barn 
or  a  garage.    As  soon  as  a  boy  becomes  old  enough 

[75] 


to  drive  horses  or  a  truck,  another  team  of  horses 
or  another  truck  is  bought  by  the  family.  In  some 
f amiHes  there  are  as  many  as  five  or  six  trucks  or 
teams,  operated  or  driven  by  members  of  the  same 
family.  Other  more  ambitious  men  get  hired 
men  from  the  Netherlands.  Some  of  the  bigger 
operators  have  as  many  as  twenty  teams.  In  the 
last  two  years  there  has  been  a  transition  from  the 
use  of  horses  to  trucks. 

From  teaming  and  trucking  to  excavating  was 
a  natural  transition,  and  today  some  of  the  biggest 
excavating  jobs  in  the  loop  are  contracted  by  the 
Dutch  from  this  colony.  The  excavating  for  the 
Tribune  building,  a  $100,000  job,  was  done  by  Mr. 
Ottenhof ,  who  a  few  years  ago  started  teaming  in 
a  modest  way.  These  Dutch  people  loved  the  out- 
door work,  disliked  to  work  for  other  people,  and 
are  located  conveniently  near  the  loop  to  engage 
in  this  sort  of  business. 

Many  of  the  downtown  stores  also  drew  a  large 
number  of  Dutch  into  their  employment.  Mr. 
Cooper  of  Siegel-Cooper  &  Co.  was  a  Dutch  Jew 
and  gave  preference  to  Dutch  persons  where  he 
could.  Mr.  John  Broekema,  for  many  years  one 
of  the  managers  for  Siegel-Cooper  &  Co.,  and 
then  for  Marshall  Field,  in  whose  employ  he  has 
been  for  over  a  score  of  years,  also  did  much  to 
give  employment  to  the  Dutch.  Scores  of  Dutch 
people  regard  him  as  their  best  friend,  for  it  was 
he  who  always  stood  ready  to  employ  a  Hollander, 

[76] 


no  matter  how  ''green''  he  was,  and  to  him  they 
owe  much  of  their  prosperity.  As  a  tribute  to 
Mr.  Broekema  for  what  he  has  done  for  the 
Dutch  of  Chicago  he  was  elected  the  first  honorary 
member  of  the  Knickerbocker  Society. 

Among  the  Dutch  of  Chicago  there  have  been  a 
few  who  have  estabHshed  a  considerable  business. 
Henry  Bosch,  who  established  the  wall  paper 
and  paint  store,  was  one  of  the  men  who  followed 
Rev.  De  Bey  to  this  country.  The  Bosch  corpora- 
tion now  has  a  chain  of  such  stores  in  all  the 
leading  cities  of  the  country  and  has  the  largest 
business  of  its  kind  in  the  country.  The  Vander 
Kloot  Iron  foundry  was  established  by  another 
Dutch  settler  of  the  1848  immigration.  The  Van 
Vlissingen  brothers  of  the  real  estate  firm  by  that 
name  came  to  the  Roseland  settlement  in  the  six- 
ties, and  their  first  venture  was  an  addition  to 
Roseland.  Another  Hollander  of  that  emigration 
started  the  De  Vries  Lumber  Company  on  47th 
place  which  is  now  being  run  by  his  sons. 

Prominent  Holland  -  American  firms  and 
business  men  in  Chicago  today  are : 

H.  Hamstra  &  Co.,  6003  Wentworth  avenue, 
importer  of  Dutch  goods. 

Wierenga  and  Ottenhof,  real  estate,  1837 
West  Roosevelt  road  and  7112  South  Halsted 
street. 

L.  Holstein  and  Company,  71st  and  Halsted 
streets,  real  estate. 

[77] 


James  H.  Rook,  printer,  732  Federal  street. 

Teninga  Brothers,  real  estate,  Michigan  ave- 
nue and  113th  street. 

VViersema  State  Bank,  111th  street  and  Michi- 
gan avenue. 

Boersma  Company,  clothing  and  dry  goods, 
111th  street  and  Michigan  avenue. 

B.  Vellenga,  real  estate,  11227  Michigan  ave- 
nue, also  the  proprietor  of  the  Monarch  laundry. 

Ten  Bruin  and  Sons,  2044  North  Hamlin  ave- 
nue, horse  radish  and  Dutch  mustard. 

James  De  Boer,  147  South  Ashland  avenue, 
teaming  and  coal  yard. 

R.  Huiner,  Ashland  avenue,  teaming  contrac- 
tor. 

Wierenga  Brothers,  2209  West  Harrison 
street,  teaming  and  hauling  contractors. 

A.  Huizenga  and  Sons,  commission  merchant, 
Randolph  street. 

IX.    SOCIAL  AND  FAMILY  LIFE 

1  HE  CHURCHES  and  the  Christian  schools  are 
the  strongest  agencies  in  keeping  the  communities 
together,  and  are  also  the  greatest  agency  of  so- 
cial life.  The  intellectual  and  social  interests  of 
the  average  Hollander  center  around  the  church. 
Church  he  attends  at  least  twice  every  Sunday, 
and  sometimes  even  three  times.  During  the  week 

[7S] 


there  are  catechism  classes  held  at  the  church, 
young  peoples  societies  of  various  sorts,  ladies  aid 
societies,  entertainments,  and  so  in  fact,  the 
church  is  seldom  without  some  meeting. 

The  young  people  go  from  one  church  to  the 
other  to  attend  meetings  and  entertainments.  In 
the  summer  there  are  Sunday  school  picnics,  and 
mission  picnics.  Indeed  the  summer  holidays  are 
almost  invariably  celebrated  by  some  church  pic- 
nic. 

There  is  only  one  community  that  is  most 
markedly  Dutch,  and  that  is  the  Ashland  avenue 
settlement.  This  remains  rather  more  Dutch 
than  the  others  for  several  reasons.  Here  are  a 
handful  of  Hollanders  in  a  sea  of  Jews,  with 
whom  the  Dutch  do  not  mix.  Furthermore  most 
of  the  new  immigrants  come  to  this  settlement, 
and  this  steady  stream  of  immigrants  keeps  up 
the  Dutch  atmosphere. 

Within  the  communities  there  are  provincial 
groups.  The  people  from  the  different  provinces 
in  Holland  speak  dialects  so  distinct  from  each 
other  that  people  from  one  cannot  understand  the 
people  coming  from  the  other.  The  people  from 
the  same  province  cling  together.  In  church  elec- 
tions they  often  vote  as  a  block,  often  causing  no 
little  trouble.  With  some  of  the  newly  arrived 
im.migrants  this  attitude  is  carried  very  far.  A 
Dutch  lady  was  heard  to  remark  about  another 
who  did  not  hail  from  the  same  province  as  her- 

[79] 


self,  "She  is  not  a  Hollander,  she  is  a  stranger." 
There  is  even  an  organization  of  the  Friesians, 
called  the  Friesche  Gezelschap.  The  people  of  the 
west  side  colony  are  almost  all  Groningers.  Most 
of  the  people  in  Englewood  are  also  Groningers, 
while  those  in  Roseland  are  for  the  most  part 
Friesians  and  North  Hollanders. 

The  Dutch  are  very  industrious  and  thrifty. 
Most  of  them  own  the  houses  in  which  they  live. 
They  are  land  hungry.  As  soon  as  they  have 
paid  for  one  house  they  buy  another,  and  the 
farmer  when  he  has  paid  off  his  mortgage  buys 
more  acres.  In  1922  the  First  Christian  Reformed 
church  bought  a  large  church  from  the  Luther- 
ans, at  a  cost  of  about  $85,000  after  a  few  needed 
repairs  had  been  made.  Instead  of  securing  an 
outside  loan  the  people  were  asked  if  they  cared 
to  lend  money  to  their  own  church,  the  loans  to 
be  paid  off  in  installments.  Offers  to  loan  the 
money  more  than  covered  the  amount  needed. 
The  Dutch  are  never  niggardly  in  supporting 
their  churches.  The  First  Christian  Reformed 
church,  the  ''immigrant  church,''  numbers  only 
225  families,  yet  contributes  some  $25,000  a  year 
toward  the  support  of  the  church  and  for  chari- 
table causes.  In  addition  to  this  these  225  families 
raise  $15,000  each  year  for  the  support  of  the 
Christian  school. 

The  Dutch  churches  take  excellent  care  of  their 
own  needy.    The  United  charities  only  had  nine 

[80] 


cases  of  Dutch  families  during  a  period  of  eleven 
months,  and  none  of  these  families  lived  in  the 
Dutch  communities.  They  are  very  hospitable  to 
other  people  of  their  own  race  but  not  always  so 
to  outsiders.  The  Dutch  have  indeed  often  a 
slightly  supercilious  air  toward  other  nation- 
alities. 

On  social  questions  the  Hollander  is  conserva- 
tive. He  is  usually  behind  his  own  generation  in 
Holland  and  this  is  particularly  true  of  the  first 
and  second  generations.  After  that  he  begins  to 
catch  up  with  his  environment.  The  reason  lies 
in  the  fact  that  he  has  put  up  walls  of  church  life 
and  of  social  life  in  his  fear  that  he  will  lose  his 
distinctive  principles.  |The  non  -  church  group 
probably  assimilate  faster,  since  they  are  not  re- 
tarded by  church  associations,  but  the  people  in 
this  group  are  generally  of  a  lower  type.  The 
newer  immigration,  which  comes  from,  the  cities, 
shares  more  the  general  character  of  industrial 
populations  and  is  more  quickly  assimilated. 

That  the  Hollander  is  backward  in  social  ques- 
tions can  be  seen  from  some  of  the  matters  before 
the  church  synods  for  discussion.  Woman  suf- 
frage caused  a  long  and  bitter  debate.  There  were 
many  that  held  that  woman  suffrage  was  not 
scriptural  and  they  wanted  a  decision  from  the 
synod  recording  its  disapproval.  In  1916  the 
Synod  of  the  Christian  Reformed  church  finally 
decided  that  this  was  a  political  and  not  an  eccle- 

[81] 


siastical  question  and  therefore  not  in  the  prov- 
ince of  the  church.  The  same  discussion  ensued 
in  regard  to  labor  unions.  There  was  a  group 
who  did  not  beheve  that  membership  in  a  labor 
union  was  compatible  with  church  membership. 
The  world  flight  group  lost.  Synod  ruled  there 
was  no  proof  that  membership  in  a  union  was  in- 
compatible with  membership  in  the  church,  but 
urged  those  that  were  members  of  unions  to  assert 
themselves  to  make  the  unions  Christian,  and 
where  possible  to  organize  Christian  unions. 

The  same  conservative  attitude  is  manifested 
toward  the  divorce  problem,  which  has  been  a 
difficult  problem  to  settle.  The  Synod  of  the  Chris- 
tian Reformed  church  asked  the  Synod  of  the 
Christian  Reformed  church  of  the  Netherlands 
for  advice.  The  Netherlands  Synod  advised  that 
the  church  was  duty  bound  to  exercise  discipline 
when  church  members  obtain  divorce  on  any  other 
grounds  than  those  of  adultery,  or  under  false 
pretenses,  and  must  also  discipline  them  when  they 
contract  a  new  marriage,  but  when  ''after  this  sin 
has  been  committed  and  the  guilty  ones  wish  to 
return  to  the  fellowship  of  the  church,  the  church 
can  only  require  that  this  sin  be  confessed  and 
repentance  of  the  sinful  deed  be  shown." 

The  Dutch  families  are  usually  large,  families 
of  eight,  nine,  or  ten  are  not  unusual.  They  marry 
young,  the  newer  immigrants  often  marry  at  19 
and  20.   The  young  people  do  not  frequent  dance 

[82] 


halls,  but  their  social  life  is  centered  in  the  church. 
The  young  people  meet  each  other  at  the  Sunday 
evening  church  services  or  at  the  mid-week  meet- 
ings. In  the  Ashland  avenue  community  there  is 
an  interesting  institution  called  the  ''market/' 
After  the  Sunday  evening  services  the  girls  walk 
back  and  forth  between  Roosevelt  road  and  Hast- 
ings street  and  Ashland  avenue.  The  young  men 
from  all  the  Dutch  communities  congregate  here 
and  pick  out  the  girl  they  want.  The  girls  con- 
tinue their  promenade  until  the  young  man  of  their 
choice  comes  along.  There  is  not  much  sowing  of 
wild  oats.  If  they  do  indulge  in  a  period  of  this 
they  soon  settle  down  by  an  early  marriage. 

It  must  be  said  that  the  Dutch  have  not  been  as 
responsive  to  educational  opportunities  as  have 
some  of  the  other  peoples.  They  are  too  often 
satisfied  with  making  a  comfortable  living  and 
owning  their  own  homes. 

The  first  and  second  generations  stick  to  the 
foods  to  which  they  were  accustomed  in  the  old 
country.  Their  food  is  inclined  to  be  heavy,  some 
of  their  most  common  foods  being  Dutch  cheese, 
gray  and  green  peas,  and  brown  beans.  The 
Dutchman  is  very  fond  of  coffee  and  it  is  served 
on  the  least  occasion.  On  the  farm  it  is  not  un- 
usual for  cofifee  to  be  served  five  times  a  day.  A 
lunch  between  meals  is  called  ''coffee  time.'' 

Family  discipline  is  often  rigid.  Fathers  often 
demand  that  the  children  hand  over  their  wages 

[83] 


to  him  until  they  are  eighteen.  The  boy  on  the 
other  hand  wants  to  pay  board  and  keep  the  rest. 
This  is  one  of  the  points  where  friction  comes  be- 
tween the  parents  and  the  children.  The  children 
often  also  resent  the  plain  food  served  in  the  home 
and  desire  to  leave.  Occasionally  they  rebel 
agains  the  whole  mental  make  up  of  their  parents. 
The  church  must  serve  as  the  emollient.  But  the 
pastor  is  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  blue  sea. 
The  parents  want  him  to  take  their  side  and  if  he 
does  he  is  sure  to  lose  the  respect  of  the  children. 

The  following  is  taken  from  a  paper  written  by 
a  young  Christian  Reformed  minister  in  whose 
church  the  friction  between  parents  and  children 
is  an  actual  problem : 

*'Only  if  the  pastor  can  manage  to  instruct  the  children 
by  medium  of  the  American  language  in  catechism  or  Sun- 
day school  will  he  preserve  the  youth  of  the  congregation 
for  the  church.  But  if  he  cannot  manage  to*  do  this  he 
is  sure  to  lose  a  large  number  of  them  when  they  grow 
older,  they  will  either  go  to  other  churches  or  more  often 
in  the  cities  they  will  resort  to  cheap  and  harmful  amuse- 
ments. There  is  one  consolation  here,  that  the  most  intelli- 
gent are  the  first  and  often  the  only  ones  that  go  out. 

'The  parents  do  not  understand  their  children.  Every 
critical  examination  of  the  ideas  and  the  ideals^  of  the  par- 
ents by  the  children  the  former  regard  as  wilful  disobedi- 
ence and  refusal  to  submit  to  the  parents.  Heartaches 
result.  It  is  one  of  the  most  acute  problems  with  which 
the  pastor  of  the  immigrant  church  has  to  deal  and  he 
has  to  use  great  tact  in  the  guidance  of  both  parent  and 
child.  Only  by  personal  contact  with  both  parties  will 
he  be  able  to  help  them.     Preaching  along  this  line  is  mis- 

[84] 


understood.  Each  party  thinks  that  the  pastor  is  in  favor 
of  its  side  and  both  condemn  him  as  not  being  the  right 
kind  of  a  leader." 

People  coming  from  the  country  districts  in 
Holland  and  thrown  into  a  large  industrial  city 
in  a  strange  land  often  react  quite  differently. 
Some  shrink  within  themselves  in  fear,  others  let 
themselves  out  in  complete  abandon.  The  church 
plays  a  very  different  role.  It  is  probably  the  only 
institution  and  influence  which  can  save  the  immi- 
grant from  stark  materialism,  and  yet  it  cannot 
but  help  retard  his  Americanization  and  his  full 
participation  in  the  life  of  his  new  environment. 

However,  the  Dutch  communities  do  serve  to 
adjust  the  immigrant  to  his  new  surroundings. 
The  adjustment  is  made  more  gradual  by  means 
of  it,  and  the  community  serves  as  a  sort  of 
solvent.  The  immigrant  comes  in  contact  with 
other  families  who  have  proceeded  further  in  the 
adjustment,  and  from  their  experiences  he  learns 
many  valuable  lessons. 

The  writer  became  personally  acquainted  with 
a  family  which  ''went  to  smash''  because  of  lack 
of  harmony  between  parents  and  children.  The 
family  is  Catholic  and  when  it  came  to  this  coun- 
try some  twelve  years  ago  it  settled  on  the  near 
North  side,  and  not  in  a  Dutch  community.  The 
parents  were  socially  isolated.  The  children  im- 
mediately made  friends  on  the  streets  or  in  school 
and  were  fast  growing  up  with  all  the  attitudes 

[85] 


of  American  children.    But  the  boys  fell  in  with  a 
gang  and  got  into  trouble. 

.The  father  wished  the  boys  to  go  to  work  as 
soon  as  possible.  He  himself  had  gone  to  work 
when  he  was  eleven  years  old  and  he  says  he  re- 
members how  eager  he  was  to  hasten  home  with 
the  first  bit  of  money  he  had  earned  in  order  to 
hand  it  over  to  his  mother.  The  mother  of  the 
family  speaks  much  the  same  way.  Her  people 
in  the  Netherlands  are  builders  of  small  ships, 
and  the  whole  family  works  together  in  a  family 
enterprise. 

The  family  is  composed  of  the  parents  and  six 
children  of  which  John,  the  oldest,  is  nineteen 
years  of  age.  He  has  been  caught  in  hold-ups,  con- 
victed of  burglaries,  and  charged  with  attempting 
to  steal  an  automobile.  He  was  sent  to  St.  Charles 
but  escaped.  He  was  captured  and  returned  and 
when  at  last  he  was  released  he  joined  the  navy. 

Anton,  who  is  only  fifteen,  has  a  very  bad  rec- 
ord. He  has  a  long  series  of  hold-ups,  burglaries, 
and  other  offenses  charged  up  against  him.  He 
has  been  released  from  St.  Charles,  but  the  father 
continues  to  have  much  trouble  with  him.  He  will 
not  work  very  steadily.  The  father  wants  Anton 
to  hand  over  all  his  earnings  to  him,  a  small 
amount  to  be  returned  for  spending  money. 

Elizabeth  is  seventeen.  Elizabeth  left  school 
when  she  was  fourteen  to  go  to  work  as  an  office 

[86] 


girl,  and  at  sixteen  she  became  a  telephone  oper- 
ator. The  mother  complains  that  Elizabeth  goes 
out  with  all  kinds  of  fellows;  that  after  talking 
with  one  young  man  on  the  street,  she  comes  in 
the  house  and  calls  up  another  young  man.  This 
the  mother  thought  outrageous.  Elizabeth  had  a 
different  escort  every  time  she  went  out.  What 
was  worse,  a  nice  young  man  whom  the  parents 
liked,  and  who  called  on  Elizabeth  and  took  her 
out  riding  in  a  big  car,  was  treated  indifferently 
by  Elizabeth.  She  liked  other  young  men  better, 
especially  a  ''fresh  Irish  bum."  When  the  mother 
rebuked  Elizabeth  for  having  left  the  children  one 
night  to  go  out  with  her  beau,  she  was  told  to  ''dry 
up.''  Elizabeth  and  her  father  also  do  not  get 
along  together.  She  has  left  home  and  is  now  only 
an  occasional  visitor. 

The  father  and  mother  complain  bitterly  about 
family  life  in  this  country,  saying  that  the  children 
have  no  respect  for  their  parents,  and  a  parent 
gets  no  profit  out  of  his  children.  In  the  Nether- 
lands the  children  bring  all  their  earnings  to  the 
parents  and  the  parents  buy  the  clothes  for  them, 
give  them  spending  money,  and  provide  a  good 
home  for  them.  Nor  are  the  young  people  so 
scandalous  in  their  courting  in  the  old  country. 
There  the  girls  did  not  go  out  with  so  many  differ- 
ent young  men  in  such  rapid  succession.  The 
father  states  that  he  will  do  anything  for  the  chil- 
dren, even  buy  pianos  and  automobiles,  if  only  the 

[87] 


children  will  hand  over  their  earnings  to  him 
faithfully. 

Had  this  family  come  into  a  Dutch  settlement 
and  then  been  a  member  of  a  protestant  church, 
much  of  this  tragedy  might  have  been  averted. 
As  it  was  the  mother  and  father  were  completely 
isolated  from  the  social  life  in  the  new  world, 
whereas  the  children  thrown  at  once  and  com- 
pletely into  the  new  world  without  any  such 
guides  as  they  might  have  had  in  a  Dutch  com- 
munity. 

Some  attempts  have  been  made  to  portray 
Dutch  family  and  community  life  in  literature, 
but  most  of  these  attempts  have  failed  to  present 
a  true  picture.  The  Dutch  background  of  New 
York  has  been  a  rich  source  of  literary  material, 
and  has  been  extensively  used  ever  since  Wash- 
ington Irving.  The  Dutch  in  the  West  have  not 
been  as  important  an  element  in  the  life  of  the 
country  as  the  Dutch  in  the  East  because  of  their 
proportionally  fewer  numbers.  Recently,  how- 
ever, there  have  been  a  few  books  using  the  Dutch 
communities  as  background.  Cornelia,  by  Lucy 
Fitch  Perkins,  has  some  Dutch  color  of  a  very  in- 
cidental nature.  The  original  of  the  story  is  Dr. 
Cornelia  B.  De  Bey,  daughter  of  the  pastor  of  the 
First  Reformed  church,  and  many  of  the  incidents 
are  taken  out  of  her  life,  but  no  serious  attempt  is 
made  to  really  portray  life  in  the  small  Dutch  com- 
munity.   Cornelia  was  published  in  1919. 

[88] 


Very  recently  the  Dutch  south  of  Chicago  are 
used  in  a  much  more  serious  novel  by  Edna  Fer- 
ber.  So  Big,  published  serially  in  The  Saturday 
Evening  Post  during  1923  and  since  published  in 
book  form,  records  the  experiences  and  reactions 
of  an  American  girl  who  becomes  a  teacher  in  the 
school  at  South  Holland  and  later  marries  a  stolid, 
unimaginative,  Dutch  truck  farmer  of  the  com- 
munity. It  is  certain  that  Miss  Ferber  has  very 
little  direct  knowledge  of  the  Dutch.  To  one  who 
knows  the  Dutch  and  the  life  in  the  Dutch  com- 
munities, the  book  has  absolutely  no  value  in  so 
far  as  it  is  a  serious  attempt  to  portray  the  life  of 
these  settlements.  The  people  are  described  as 
going  to  church  with  a  hymn  book,  whereas  the 
Dutch  are  a  psalm  singing  people  and  the  little 
books  they  carry  to  church  are  psalm  books. 
Sausage  and  beer  are  served  at  a  wedding  supper. 
This  may  be  done  at  a  German  but  never  at  a 
Dutch  w^edding  supper.  Many  names  appear  in 
the  book  with  Von.  Almost  every  third  Dutch 
name  has  a  Van  in  it,  but  Von  is  never  found  in 
a  Dutch  name.  Von  is  German  and  not  Dutch. 
Nor  is  the  language  used  by  the  Dutch  in  the  book 
really  ''Yankee-Dutch.''  Miss  Ferber  makes  the 
Dutch  talk  like  Ghetto  Jews.  The  author  pictures 
a  large  dance  and  social  held  at  Ooms'  Hall  for 
the  purpose  of  paying  for  the  new  church  organ. 
All  dancing  is  looked  at  askance  by  the  Dutch 
church  people — a  dance  given  by  a  church  group 

[89] 


and  to  pay  for  the  church  organ  is  quite  unthink- 
able. 

An  excellent  portrayal  of  the  life  of  the  western 
Dutch  communities  is  found  in  the  novels  written 
by  Arnold  Mulder.  Mr.  Mulder  is  himself  a 
product  of  the  western  Michigan  settlement  and 
knows  them  intimately.  Mulder's  first  book,  The 
Dominie  (minister)  of  Harlem ,  is  probably  his 
best  book.  It  appeared  about  1913.  Other  books 
of  his  that  use  the  Dutch  settlement  life  as  a  back- 
ground are :  Br  am  of  the  Five  Corners,  The  Out- 
hound  Road,  and  The  Sand  Doctor. 

The  language  that  is  commonly  spoken  in  the 
different  communities  varies.  It  depends  upon 
the  size  of  the  community,  and  the  circumstances 
of  locality  and  environment.  The  extraordinary 
thing  is  that  the  Dutch  language  persists  so  long. 
There  are  Dutch  churches  in  Chicago  that  are 
seventy-five  years  old  and  still  use  the  Dutch  in 
one  or  all  of  the  services.  This  is  of  course  due 
to  continued  accessions  from  the  Netherlands. 
In  the  rural  districts  it  naturally  persists  longest. 
The  writer  attended  a  rural  public  school  in  the 
heart  of  the  Michigan  settlement  and  recalls  that 
Dutch  was  the  only  language  spoken  outside  of 
the  school  room. 

But  the  Dutch  commonly  used  is  a  corrupt 
Dutch.  This  is  due  to  the  admixture  of  Dutch, 
the  various  Dutch  dialects,  and  English.  The 
vernacular  that  results  is  called  ''Yankee-Dutch.'' 

[90] 


A  volume  of  humorous  sketches  written  in  this 
vernacular  has  been  published  by  Eerdmans-Se- 
vensma  Company  of  Grand  Rapids.  Dirk  Nieland 
is  the  author.  In  public  meetings,  and  especially 
at  church  meetings,  the  Hollander  tries  desper- 
ately to  use  pure  and  correct  Dutch,  but  unawares 
he  will  slip  in  his  dialect,  and  then  he  becomes 
very  much  ashamed  of  himself.  Mencken,  in  the 
second  edition  of  The  American  Language,  has  a 
chapter  on  the  Dutch-English  vernacular  found 
in  western  Michigan. 

A  very  interesting  study  of  the  language  attain- 
ments of  the  pupils  in  the  Christian  schools  was 
made  by  H.  Van  Zyl,  now  professor  of  education 
at  Calvin  college,  for  the  University  of  Chicago 
College  of  Education.  The  parents  of  about 
ninety-five  percent  of  the  pupils  under  investiga- 
tion were  foreign  born.  One  school  proved  to  be 
up  to  standard  in  regard  to  story  value,  the  other 
school  below  it.  Pupils  in  one  school  were  de- 
cidedly above  standard  in  language  achievements 
where  correct  verb  usage  was  concerned.  The 
conclusion  reached  was  that  foreign  birth  seemed 
to  influence  story  value  and  form  value  favorably. 

Leading  personalities : 

James  De  Boer.  (Died  March  27,  1924).  Mr.  De 
Boer  was  the  leader  of  the  Ashland  Avenue  settlement. 
He  was  for  years  an  elder  in  the  First  Christian  Reformed 
church,  and  later  in  the  Fourth  church.  He  was  president 
of  the  Union  For  Christian  Schools,  president  of  the 
Chicago  Christian  High  School  board,  president  of  the 

[91] 


Ebenezer  Christian  School  board,  and  a  member  of  the 
board  of  Bethesda  Sanitarium  at  Denver.  Mr.  De  Boer 
engaged  in  the  trucking  and  coal  and  wood  business. 

Dr.  J.  Van  Lonkhuyzen.  Pastor  of  the  First  Chris- 
tian Reformed  church  and  editor  of  Onze  Toekomst.  Has 
a  considerable  influence  as  a  leader  in  the  Christian  Re- 
formed denomination. 

L.  HoLSTEiN.  Former  editor  of  Onze  Toekomst, 
now  in  the  real  estate  business  in  Englewood.  A  member 
of  the  board  of  the  Roseland  Old  Peoples  Home.  Always 
a  leading  spirit  in  any  movement  in  the  Dutch  circles. 

James  A.  Van  Pernis.  (Died  February  10,  1925). 
Managing  editor  of  Onze  Toekomst,  was  secretary  of 
the  Queen  Wilhelmina  Album  committee.  Was  a  member 
of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Knickerbocker  Society. 
Probably  personally  knew  more  Hollanders  in  Chicago 
than  any  other  person. 

Hon.  John  Vennema.  Lawyer.  Dutch  Consul  Gen- 
eral. Does  not  live  in  the  Dutch  community  but  as  Consul 
General  comes  in  contact  with  many  Dutch  people. 

Herman  Teninga.  (Died  in  1925.)  Roseland  real 
estater,  served  as  president  of  the  Cook  County  real  estate 
board,  elder  in  Bethany  Reformed  church.  Probably  the 
most  influential  person  in  the  Roseland  community. 

Age  Zylstra.  Past  president  of  the  Roseland  Mutual 
Aid  Society,  and  former  secretary  of  Zelf-Hulp.  Was 
member  of  Mayor  Thompson's  cabinet,  and  is  now  Repub- 
lican committeeman  for  the  Ninth  Ward. 

Gelmer  Kuiper.  President  of  the  Knickerbocker 
Society  and  of  the  Hope  College  club.  Is  chief  claim 
attorney  for  the  Great  Western  railroad. 

Father  Van  Heertum.  Head  of  the  parish  of  St. 
Willebrordus  church.  A  leader  of  the  Dutch  Catholics  in 
the  United  States.  Was  for  many  years  head  of  the  Dutch 
Catholic  college  in  the  Fox  River  Valley,  Wisconsin. 

Herman  Vanderploeg.  Lawyer.  (Died  in  May, 
1926.)      Secretary   of   the  Holland   Building  and   Loan 

[92] 


association.  Helped  the  Dutch  settle  many  of  their  cases 
out  of  court  and  has  been  a  most  trusted  legal  advisor. 

J.  C.  BovENKERK.  President  of  the  Boersma  Store  in 
Roseland,  a  leader  in  Reformed  church  circles  and  also  in 
Chicago  civic  life. 

F.  PosTHUMA.  Vice  Consul,  vice-president  of  the 
Scholle  Furniture  Company.  Knows  many  Dutch  and 
takes  an  interest  in  things  Dutch  but  does  not  live  in  a 
Dutch  community. 

James  H.  Rook.  Printer.  Served  as  president  of 
Beverly  Hills  Improvement  association  and  president  of 
the  Ridge  Civic  Council.  While  not  living  in  a  Dutch 
community  always  takes  part  in  any  activity  in  Dutch 
circles. 


X.    THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  DUTCH 
COMMUNITIES 

1  HE  FUTURE  of  the  Dutch  communities  in  Chi- 
cago, though  largely  a  matter  of  speculation,  can 
be  ascertained  with  some  degree  of  certainty  by 
w^eighing  the  forces  that  tend  to  preserve  them 
and  those  that  tend  to  break  them  up.  There  are 
certain  factors  that  tend  to  hold  the  communities 
together,  or  at  least  retard  their  absorption  in  the 
general  population,  and  there  are  factors  that 
make  for  the  dispersion  or  break  down  of  these 
communities,  and  the  question  of  their  future  is 
largely  a  matter  of  determining  their  respective 
strength. 

The  greatest  factor  for  the  perpetuation  of 
these  communities  is  the  church.  Most  of  the 
Dutch  people  who  remain  in  these  communities 

[93] 


are  deeply  religious  and  love  their  particular 
church.  The  church  is  the  center  of  their  intel- 
lectual interests  as  well  as  of  their  social  and  re- 
ligious life.  As  was  noted  under  the  discussion 
of  the  Churches  and  Religious  Life,  both  the  Re- 
formed and  Christian  Reformed  denominations 
have  a  rather  distinct  character.  They  are  both 
strongly  evangelical  and  Calvinistic,  but  of  the 
two  churches  the  Christian  Reformed  church  has 
the  more  distinctive  character.  The  Christian 
Reformed  church  has  attempted  to  retain  and  de- 
velop along  its  chosen  lines  and  the  result  is  a 
church  body  quite  different  from  the  usual  type 
of  American  protestantism.  This  has  developed 
a  strong  church  consciousness  and  church  loyalty. 
The  Reformed  church  on  the  other  hand  has  at- 
tempted to  become  as  much  like  the  average 
American  protestant  church  as  possible  and  has 
as  a  result  lost  much  of  its  distinctive  character, 
and  is  less  able  to  hold  its  people. 

The  next  important  factor  making  for  the 
solidarity  of  the  Dutch  communities  is  the  Chris- 
tian School.  It  helps  to  develop  a  group  con- 
sciousness, makes  for  community  activities,  and 
keeps  the  children  from  contacts  outside  of  their 
own  group  until  about  18  years  of  age.  Parents 
sending  their  children  to  the  Christian  school 
naturally  want  to  live  near  the  school.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  Reformed  church  are  much 
more  closely  concentrated  around  the  church  and 

[941 


school  than  are  the  Reformed  church  people.  The 
membership  of  the  latter  is  very  much  dispersed, 
and  some  live  at  great  distances  from  the  church. 
It  is  only  a  question  of  time  before  these  people 
will  drop  their  connection  with  the  Reformed 
church  altogether.  The  schools  of  course  also 
serve  to  keep  the  children  in  the  church  when  they 
grow  older.  The  Christian  school  is  a  powerful 
factor  in  holding  the  community  together. 

Immigration  must  also  be  considered  as  a  very 
important  factor  in  determining  the  future  of 
these  communities.  Under  the  present  immigra- 
tion laws  only  a  few  thousand  Dutch  people  are 
permitted  to  enter  this  country  each  year.  Since 
1914  Dutch  immigration  has  been  light.  The 
effect  of  this  diminished  immigration  has  had 
marked  effects  on  the  communities.  Progress  in 
Americanization  has  gone  on  at  a  very  rapid  rate. 
Dutch  has  been  completely  dropped  in  most  of  the 
Christian  schools,  English  was  adopted  in  Sunday 
schools  and  catechism  classes,  and  several  English 
speaking  churches  were  organized.  As  immigra- 
tion practically  ceases  or  becomes  negligible,  these 
communities  will  lose  more  and  more  of  their 
Dutch  character,  and  the  complete  dissolution  of 
the  communities  be  only  a  matter  of  time. 

Another  factor  holding  the  Dutch  communities 
together  is  the  high  percentage  of  home  owners 
among  them.  The  Dutchman  is  frugal,  and  al- 
ways eager  to  buy  his  own  home.    A  family  not 

[95] 


owning  its  own  home  is  considered  improvident. 
For  this  reason  the  farming  communities  are  con- 
sidered very  stable.  People  having  their  money 
tied  up  in  farms  or  in  houses  do  not  readily  move. 
The  South  Holland  community  is  already  seventy- 
seven  years  old,  and  though  not  a  large  commun- 
ity, has  as  much  solidarity  as  it  did  fifty  years  ago. 
The  statistics  on  home  ownership  are  difficult  to 
obtain  but  it  is  significant  to  note  that  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan,  with  a  population  over  one- 
third  Dutch,  stands  second  in  all  the  cities  of  the 
country  in  the  percentage  of  its  people  that  are 
home  owners. 

The  size  of  the  community  will  have  a  great 
influence  on  the  rapidity  of  assimilation.  An  iso- 
lated family  is  sure  to  lose  its  identity  much 
sooner  than  a  family  in  the  midst  of  a  large  group, 
and  a  small  group  is  sure  to  become  assimilated 
faster  than  a  large  group.  The  Roseland  com- 
munity is  large  enough  to  insure  its  Dutch  char- 
acter for  a  long  time  to  come,  but  the  future  of 
the  Englewood  and  West  Side  communities  is 
much  more  difficult  to  determine.  The  Engle- 
wood community  has  about  3,000  people  and  there 
is  a  strong  tendency  for  people  building  new 
homes  to  locate  further  south,  as  well  as  east  and 
west  in  a  more  favorable  residential  section.  The 
community  is  becoming  more  dispersed,  and  the 
center  of  the  community  is  moving  southward. 
The  Ashland  Avenue  community  is  held  together 

[96] 


because  of  the  occupation  of  most  of  its  people. 
This  has  enabled  it  to  remain  intact  in  spite  of 
successive  waves  of  other  nationalities  v^hich 
have  engulfed  it.  Not  even  the  Jews  nor  the 
negroes  have  been  able  to  drive  them  out.  This 
community  can,  however,  remain  in  its  present 
condition  only  if  it  gets  fresh  accessions  from 
Holland.  The  second  and  third  generation  seeks 
another  method  of  making  a  living,  a  calling 
higher  in  the  social  scale,  and  moves  into  the  bet- 
ter district  to  the  west.  The  community  tends  as 
a  result  to  spread  out  more  and  more,  and  com- 
plete assimilation  is  only  a  matter  of  time. 

The  many  organizations,  other  than  the  church 
societies,  must  have  some  influence  in  keeping  the 
people  in  the  communities,  and  especially  to  keep 
alive  their  race  consciousness.  Convenience  of 
location  for  purposes  of  attending  these  meetings, 
the  strength  of  the  associations  formed,  have  a 
great  influence  in  determining  residence. 

Dutch  journalism,  too,  exerts  an  influence  to 
keep  alive  the  group  consciousness.  The  number 
of  readers  of  Dutch  papers,  both  church  and  secu- 
lar, is  very  large.  The  church  papers  intensify 
church  consciousness  and  church  loyalty. 

It  must  also  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Hollander 
is  conservative  by  nature.  He  is  conservative  in 
his  religion,  in  his  social  ideals,  as  well  as  in 
politics  and  in  economics.     This   conservatism 

[971 


tends  to  help  keep  the  Dutchman  in  his  group  and 
in  his  community. 

But  there  are  also  strong  influences  working 
in  the  opposite  direction.  One  of  these  is  inter- 
marriage with  other  groups.  Some  intermarriage 
iwith  other  groups  is  inevitable  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  most  of  the  social  life  of  the  people  is  centered 
in  the  community.  The  remarkable  thing  is  that 
intermarriages  are  as  few  as  they  are.  But  they 
are  already  frequent  in  the  third  generation  and 
are  sure  to  increase  with  time,  with  the  result  that 
many  will  in  that  way  be  withdrawn  from  the 
community. 

Secondly,  there  is  a  continual  draining  off  at 
the  top.  Men  and  women  who  rise  to  a  higher 
social  or  economic  level  move  to  a  better  resi- 
dential district.  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
social  climbers.  The  Dutch  communities  are  not 
large  enough  to  furnish  material  sufficient  for  an 
exclusive  social  set.  Many  families  who  lived  in 
the  Dutch  communities  at  one  time  can  be  found 
in  different  districts  of  the  city.  For  a  while  they 
continue  to  attend  the  churches  in  the  Dutch  com- 
munities, but  the  ties  gradually  loosen,  and  after 
a  time  they  cut  loose  from  the  community  alto- 
gether. The  writer  has  met  a  large  number  of 
such  cases.  The  pastor  of  the  First  Reformed 
church  told  the  writer  that  his  church  should 
have  at  least  a  hundred  more  families  if  it  had  not 
lost  many  in  just  this  way.  One  Reformed  church 

[98] 


on  the  west  side  was  disbanded  a  few  years  ago 
because  the  people  were  moving  out  of  the  dis- 
trict, and  the  church  could  no  longer  support 
itself.  Many  of  these  people  undoubtedly  left  the 
Reformed  church  and  joined  some  church  in  their 
new  neighborhood. 

There  is  also  a  loss  due  to  people  moving  out 
of  the  city,  and  this  loss  is  not  made  up  by  people 
from  other  communities  coming  into  the  local 
settlements.  With  a  change  of  residence  from 
one  city  to  another  the  change  from  the  Dutch 
community  to  an  American  is  most  easily  made. 
Associations  are  broken  anyway,  why  not  make 
this  the  occasion  for  leaving  the  Dutch  community 
altogether,  is  the  reasoning  followed.  A  large 
number  of  people  coming  from  the  communities 
in  other  states  never  think  of  settling  in  the  Dutch 
communities  in  Chicago.  This  is  especially  true 
of  the  younger  people.  There  are  scores  of  such 
people  in  Chicago  who  came  originally  from  the 
Dutch  communities  of  Michigan,  Iowa,  and  Wis- 
consin. Very  few  of  these  people  come  into  direct 
contact  with  the  Dutch  in  the  communities.  They 
may  keep  up  an  acquaintance  with  an  occasional 
family  in  the  Dutch  community,  but  more  often 
only  with  some  Holland  family,  who  like  them- 
selves have  left  the  Dutch  community. 

The  conclusion  probably  is  that  the  forces  mak- 
ing for  dissolution  are  not  yet  as  strong  as  those 
making  for  integration.  The  smaller  communities 

[99] 


it  would  seem,  will  be  absorbed  in  the  nat  distant 
future.  The  larger  ones  may  retain  many  of  their 
essential  characteristics  for  many  years,  like  some 
of  the  Dutch  towns  in  New  York. 

The  Dutch  communities  have  performed,  and 
are  still  performing  a  valuable  service.  They 
serve  as  a  medium  for  the  gradual  assimilation  of 
the  Dutch  immigrants.  An  immigrant  thrown  at 
once  into  the  full  stream  of  American  life  is  be- 
wildered. He  is  more  than  likely  to  throw  off 
those  customs  and  ideals  which  he  ought  to  retain, 
and  take  over  those  American  attitudes  which  are 
least  desirable.  These  communities  enable  him  to 
make  his  adjustment  gradually  and  with  the  great- 
est social  economy.  They  enable  the  Dutchman 
to  become  assimilated  without  robbing  him  of  his 
best  qualities.  And  above  all,  they  serve  as  a 
temporary  depository  of  Dutch  culture  in  Amer- 
ica, and  serve  as  a  channel  for  the  Dutch  culture 
to  flow  into  our  cosmopolitan  cultural  stream  and 
so  to  enrich  it. 


[100] 


NOTES 
By  the  Committee  on  Publication 

1.  The  reason  why  Rev.  De  Bey  did  not  succeed  in  establishing 
an  exclusive  Dutch  community  on  a  large  tract  of  land  was  more 
religious  than  economic.  He  came  to  Chicago  with  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  bringing  all  the  Hollanders  of  Chicago,  many  of  whom 
were  formerly  his  parishioners  in  the  Netherlands,  back  into  the 
Reformed  Church.  For  that  reason  also  he  collaborated  with  Rev. 
Zwemer  of  South  Holland  (Low  Prairie)  in  writing  a  book  en- 
titled, Stemmen  uit  de  Gereformeerde  Kerk  in  Noord  Amerika. 
This  book  was  published  by  G.  J.  Reits  at  Groningen,  Netherlands, 
largely  for  distribution  in  Holland.  But  those  people  who  had 
formed  the  Christian  Reformed  Church  refused  to  return  to  the 
church  they  had  left.  No  pleadings  of  their  former  pastor  could 
bring  the  two  bodies  together  again. 

2.  This  picture  is  undoubtedly  overdrawn.  The  custom  of  using 
cologne  and  eating  peppermint  lozenges  in  church  originated  in  the 
Netherlands,  where  some  of  the  older  edifices,  built  centuries  ago, 
were  poorly  ventilated,  making  the  use  of  some  stimulating  scent 
desirable.  And  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  peppermint  lozenges  were 
in  many  instances  the  only  confection  those  Dutch  children  ever 
tasted.  

3.  Since  these  lines  were  written,  the  Chicago  Christian  High 
School  has  advanced  rapidly,  perhaps  nearly  100%  and  a  new  build- 
ing erected  at  71st  and  May  streets,  costing  more  than  $200,000.00. 

4.  To  ascertain  the  reason  why  the  Dutch  of  Chicago,  unlike 
their  kin  in  Michigan  and  Iowa,  have  always  been  Republican, 
it  should  be  noted  that  the  Dutch  settlement  of  Chicago  dates  prac- 
tically from  after  the  Civil  War,  and  that  the  sentiment  of  the 
people  in  the  Netherlands  was  unqualifiedly  on  the  side  of  the 
North,  Abraham  Lincoln  being  considered  by  them  one  of  the 
greatest  emancipators  of  modern  times  and  placed  in  the  same 
category  as  William  of  Orange,  the  "Father  of  their  Country.'* 

5.  The  editor  of  the  Inter-Ocean,  here  referred  to,  was  Mr.  J. 
Schaap,  who  occasionally  translated  editorials  from  De  Neder- 
lander  into  English  for  publication  in  the  Inter-Ocean. 

6.  This  is  historically  incorrect.  Shortly  after  the  World's  Fair 
in  1893  De  Nederlander  was  purchased  outright  by  the  publisher 
of  De  Grondwet  of  Holland,  Michigan,  and  for  some  time  was 
published  as  a  supplement  to  De  Grondwet.  The  paper  organized 
by  the  Young  People's  Union  of  the  Reformed  and  Christian  Re- 
formed Churches  was,  therefore,  not  intended  to  be  a  continuation 
of  De  Nederlander,  but  later,  as  a  matter  of  course,  took  the  place 
De  Nederlander  had  occupied  among  the  Dutch  in  Chicago,  after 
the  aforesaid  supplement  to  De  Grondwet  had  been  discontinued. 

[101] 


MEMBERS 

KNICKERBOCKER  SOCIETY  OF  CHICAGO 

1927 


A.  A.  AcHTERHOF,  Fhoto  Cards 

James  Baar,  Florist 
LuDwiG  Baller,  Dutch  Bulbs 
H.  N.  Beets,  X-Ray  Operator 
Lambert  Bere,  Banker 
Harry  Bierma,  Attorney 
Henry  Bloem,  Tailor,  Haber- 
dasher 
John  Broekema,  Merchant 

Claude  Dalenberg,  Attorney 
C.  M.  DtJoNG,  Holland- America 

Line 
Ralph  H.  Dekker,  Electrical 

Supplies 
Peter  DeVries,  Lumber 
John  De Young,  Undertaker 
Earl  De  Young,  Real  Estate 
Edward  E.  Dtmnent,  Ph.  D., 

President,  Hope  College 
Julius  Duitscher,  Mason  Con- 
tractor 
Albert  Dykema,  Glazing 

Contractor 
Richard  Diykstra,  Electrotyper 

R.  Fisher,  Decorating 

Peter  J.  Gouwens,  Druggist 

Jacob  Hasper,  Importer 
John  H.  Heck,  Merchandise 
Manager 


Gabriel  J.  Heyboer,  Dentist 
Klaas  Hoeksema,  School 

Principal 
L.  Holstein,  Real  Estate 
John  H.  Hospers,  Dentist 


Joseph  H.  Joukema,  Contractor 
and  Builder 


Lee  H.  Kiel,  Physician 
Henry  Kloese,  Banker 
N.  Knol,  Manufacturer  Mill- 
work 
Frank  Knoll,  U.  S.  Customs 

Examiner 
N.  KosTELYK,  Merchant 
William  Kuikman,  Builder 
Anton  Kuiper,  Insurance 
Gelmer  Kuiper,  Attorney 

J.  H.  Monsma,  Clergyman 

Walter  B.  Ottenhoff,  Sales 
Manager 

Benjamin  Ottenhoff,  Real 
Estate 

George  Ottenhoff,  Real  Estate 

A.  OosTERHEERDT,  Representa- 
tive Netherlands  Chamber  of 
Commerce 

Edward  Oostmeyer,  Salesman 


Henry  Penn,  Instructor, 
Armour  Institute 


[102] 


John  C.  Penn,  Dean,  Armour 

Institute 
Gerrit  Pon,  Real  Estate 
FoLKERT  PosTHUMA,  Vke  Con- 

sul  of  the  Netherlands, 

Furniture 
D.  J.  B.  Prins,  Diamond 

Importer 

D.  C.  RiCARDO,  Physician 
James  H.  Rook,  Master  Printer 

S.  A.  ScHELTES,  Clothier 
John  W.  Schuitema,  Life 

Insurance 
Richard  Schuurman,  Jeweler 
Thos.  J.  Sekema,  Real  Estate 
Richard  Sizoo,  Sales  Agent 
Aaron  Joseph  Speyer,  Sales- 


Edward  E.  Takken,  Real 

Estate 
Joseph  C.  Tangenberg,  Att'y 
George  M.  Ten  Gate,  Interior 

Decorator 
Cornelius  Teninga,  Real 

Estate  and  Banker 
John  Tiemstra,  Decorator 
Herman  Triezenberg,  Real 

Estate 
E.  J.  TuuK,  Clergyman 

A.  L.  VanDellen,  Physician 


R.  L.  VanDellen,  Physician 
Edw.  VanderPloeg,  Salesman 
John  VanderPloeg,  Salesman 
Frank  Vanderploeg,  Dyer 
Richard  VanderPloeg,  Sales- 
man 
G.  Broes  VanDort,  Architec- 
tural Books 
Walter  VanDyk,  Builder 
John  J.  VanDyke,  Salesman 
F.  Van  Minden,  Dentist 
Wm.  VanOeyen,  Jr.,  Mortgage 

Broker 
O.  Veenstra,  Plumbing  Con- 
tractor 
Hon.  John  VENNEMA,^^forn^y, 
Consul  General  of  the  Nether- 
lands 


Cornelius  Wagner,  General 

Merchandise 
Wm.  J.  Werkman,  Insurance 
Edward  H.  Wierenga,  Real 

Estate 
P.  WoLDMAN,  Laundry 
J.  Workman,  Cement  Con- 
tractor 

Theo.  S.  Youngsma,  Printing 
Paper  Dealer 

Edw.  W.  Zagers,  Physician 
J.  H.  Zoerman,  Manufacturer 
Lucas  J.  Zwiers,  Contractor 
and  Builder 


[103 


Ay 


